THE HIGGS BOSON
Physics is as exciting as ever. The latest exciting event is
the discovery of the Higgs Boson. It was discovered on the 4th of July
but was confirmed by peer review recently. Well, so what’s so special about
this “God Particle”?
First of
all, the “God Particle” is a very misleading name. It has nothing to do with
religion or creation and only served as a catchy name to sell a book. The Higgs
Boson is simply the missing final piece of the puzzle that is the Standard
Model. The Standard Model is literally a theory of everything. This theory
describes the results of a particle collision or what keeps the sun burning or
what the Earth is made of. The Standard
Model predicted most of physics, and each time a new particle was discovered,
the physics community wasn’t surprised, as the Standard Model had already
predicted the possible existence of such a particle. The only particle that hadn’t
been discovered until now that was predicted by the Standard Model is the Higgs
Boson. Now since the Standard Model accurately predicts electrons, protons,
particle collisions and most of physics, we can assume it is accurate about the
Higgs Boson, so in reality, proving the Higgs Boson exists is just “Scientific
Fact Checking.”
But what is
the point of the Higgs Boson, what does it do? Nothing. The Higgs Boson does
nothing. So why do we care? Because it’s an indicator that the Higgs Field
exists. The Higgs Field is what we care about, as it is the Higgs Field
that helps with the Weak Nuclear Force and gives mass to all matter. But what
is the Higgs Field? Well first we have to figure out what a field is. A field
is just a way to spawn particles. Think of the field as a line or plane with
squares randomly placed. The more squares there are in one place, the more concentration
there is on that place. So if you have the electron field, then where there is
concentration you find electrons, where there is no concentration, there are no
electrons. What makes the Higgs Field so different from all the different
particle fields is the fact that it is super concentrated at every point. This
super concentration is the mass of the universe. Sometimes, after a particle
collision, a Higgs Boson may appear, as a leftover from the Higgs Field. The
Higgs Boson is the proof of the Higgs Field.
The Higgs
Field provides everything in this universe its mass. But what is mass? That’s a
very difficult question. So let us ask, what is something without mass. A
massless particle, like a photon (a particle of light) travels at the speed of
light, about 186,000 miles per second. In reality, the speed should be called
the speed of massless particles, but light was the first massless particle
observed so it remains the speed of light. Massless particles can only travel
at the speed of light, but on the other hand anything with mass, like you and
me, cannot travel at the speed of light. However, objects with mass can travel
at any speed and have the luxury of staying still. On a different note, massless particles can
bounce off of other particles. And since a concentration of the super-concentrated
Higgs Field is a particle, a massless particle could bounce off of the
concentration. Since it is constantly concentrated, the particle could keep on
bouncing and bouncing at the speed of light, but would appear to remain still. And
this imparts mass to the particle. Congratulations Higgs Field! So everything,
even you, are just high-speed particles constantly bouncing and gaining mass.
The Higgs Field also participates in Weak Nuclear force (one of the four
fundamental forces along with the Strong force, electromagnetic force, and
gravity) and powers stars, causes nuclear decay enabling carbon dating and can
cause nuclear explosions.
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| This Diagram is a visual representation of the Higgs Field in action. If you want to use the image, please link back here. By Rumi Khan. |
The
confirmation of the Higgs Boson is very important as it adds another puzzle
piece to the Standard Model and may lead to more discoveries. Its most
important contribution is its explanation of how mass is generated in the
universe.
