Does the god particle even exist ?

DeletedUser563

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/God_particle

also but after reading it am not certain what the significance of it is. Can you please provide a summary for us normal folks. Something about a particle that provide mass to other particles. I assume the significance would be if they found it that they could recreate any other particle? I cannot think that would be possible even if the particles does exist or that it would be that simple.
 

DeletedUser16008

Theres a you tube link there but to make it as simple as possible.

By Roger Cashmore Department of Physics, University of Oxford, UK.

What determines the size of objects that we see around us or indeed even the size of ourselves? The answer is the size of the molecules and in turn the atoms that compose these molecules. But what determines the size of the atoms themselves? Quantum theory and atomic physics provide an answer. The size of the atom is determined by the paths of the electrons orbiting the nucleus. The size of those orbits, however, is determined by the mass of the electron. Were the electron's mass smaller, the orbits (and hence all atoms) would be smaller, and consequently everything we see would be smaller. So understanding the mass of the electron is essential to understanding the size and dimensions of everything around us.

It might be hard to understand the origin of one quantity, that quantity being the mass of the electron. Fortunately nature has given us more than one elementary particle and they come with a wide variety of masses. The lightest particle is the electron and the heaviest particle is believed to be the particle called the top quark, which weighs at least 200,000 times as much as an electron. With this variety of particles and masses we should have a clue to the individual masses of the particles.

Unfortunately if you try and write down a theory of particles and their interactions then the simplest version requires all the masses of the particles to be zero. So on one hand we have a whole variety of masses and on the other a theory in which all masses should be zero. Such conundrums provide the excitement and the challenges of science.

There is, however, one very clever and very elegant solution to this problem, a solution first proposed by Peter Higgs. He proposed that the whole of space is permeated by a field, similar in some ways to the electromagnetic field. As particles move through space they travel through this field, and if they interact with it they acquire what appears to be mass. This is similar to the action of viscous forces felt by particles moving through any thick liquid. the larger the interaction of the particles with the field, the more mass they appear to have. Thus the existence of this field is essential in Higg's hypothesis for the production of the mass of particles.

We know from quantum theory that fields have particles associated with them, the particle for the electromagnetic field being the photon. So there must be a particle associated with the Higg's field, and this is the Higgs boson. Finding the Higgs boson is thus the key to discovering whether the Higgs field does exist and whether our best hypothesis for the origin of mass is indeed correct.
 

DeletedUser

Ugh, I really wish people would stop calling it that. It was an unfortunate, dare we say irresponsible label posed to describe a Higgs boson.

It is a theoretical particle that constitutes the framework for the theoretical Higgs field, which is a field theorized to induce mass. At present two separate LHC studies have encountered anomalies they suspect are the result of Higgs bosons, but at an insufficient degree of certainty. Additional experiments should result in a confirmation or dismissal of confirmation within a year.

Scientific research isn't about beliefs, it's about theory and discovery.
 
Red Falcon

Red Falcon

Well-Known Member
Honestly, I don't think the particle is God. I think the particle is just that. A particle and nothing more. God is everywhere, but we cannot see Him. Yet sometimes, we know He is there. In my opinion, God is the most mysterious Being throughout the universe.
 

DeletedUser

lol, see that is why that name should not have been attributed to the Higgs boson (or bosom, as my colleague liked to call it), religious folk get all confused by it.

Red Falcon, of course it's not God, nor was it ever meant to refer to that. When physicist Leon Lederman titled his book, "The God Particle," it was a publication tactic, but a poorly considered one.

Lederman said he gave the Higgs boson the nickname "The God Particle" because the particle is "so central to the state of physics today, so crucial to our final understanding of the structure of matter, yet so elusive," but jokingly added that a second reason was because "the publisher wouldn't let us call it the Goddamn Particle, though that might be a more appropriate title, given its villainous nature and the expense it is causing." Jokes aside, he admits it wasn't a good idea to label it such, particularly considering the Fundamentalist Christian backlash that resulted.

The name, God Particle, has since been repeatedly used, by extremist Christians, as fodder for anti-science rhetoric. So let's make it clear, it's called the Higgs boson and is not God.
 

DeletedUser

I blame it on the media for dumbing down information and for people not wanting to educate themselves....but on-topic, it doesn't matter if the Higgs boson exists or not....life goes on lol.
 

DeletedUser

Yep. Btw, if the Higgs boson theory is invalidated, a collection of Higgsless theories will be researched. Ultimately, the goal is to obtain answers, not validate or invalidate opinions/beliefs.

And no it isn't!!
 

DeletedUser

No it isn't what? Troll, what have you done to the real HS that spoke so eloquently?
 

DeletedUser

Saying it exists or it doesn't exist is just a coin toss... we'll just have to wait and see.
Personally I am not that impatient with this experiment. It is of such magnitude that is will produce enough data for generations of scientists to study. I don't think it will just be like: Turn the thing on... boom! there's the secret to the univers.
 
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