the god particle

[billy]

will it do anything for us,
how will it help apart from knowing another little piece in the puzzle of physics. where do the scientists go now they've realised the discovery
into something (almost) palpable?
no need for reams of wiki pages or source material. what do you all think;

personally, apart from knowing that it supposedly imparts mass or some such to matter i can see any benefits from knowing it exists. (apart from working out equations.)

[addy]

Yeah, the most exciting stuff in physics right now is quite theoretical, and their conclusions support the understanding and observation of the universe and not much else (though its still cool) ... imo it would be decades before we'll even be able to apply it. I think our technology needs to advance a bit more. Once we're able to travel to distant stars safely and at a whim, I think.

[billy]

i know it's being silly but maybe they'll use god particle powered spaceships

what comes after the god particle divinations? the super god particle? while we get some benefit from knowing some physics,
i feel that i the main we don't really learn that much or maybe i should say we don't actually, truly understand what we discover.
it's like we're cave men with ipads

[addy]

Cavemen with ipads. That's probably stunningly accurate in the grand scheme of things.

Understanding the god particle is one thing. But if we're at a stage where we could isolate, harvest, and manipulate it then I imagine itr could be incredibly useful. If for example we can use it to increase a substance's mass indefinitely, then it could potentially be a useful energy source like you say.

[billy]

but i thought there was a given mass to the universe or is that just energy ?
yeah it's just energy. bugger, now i'm not sure

but don't already impart mass on to things by way of explosive power etc?

[Leanne]

Yes and no

The Higgs boson (God particle) is part of the electroweak unification theory, which basically says that electromagnetic and nuclear weak forces are the same thing. The problem there is that the photon, which is the exchange particle in electromagnetic force, has no mass -- but the W and Z exchange particles in nuclear weak, the force between electrons and neutrinos, have a proven, measurable mass. These forces seem different to us now, because we're in a low-temperature universe, but it should be possible to simulate that equilibrium point when the forces were symmetrical and there is just one kind of exchange particle, the Higgs boson, which slows particles and concentrates kinetic energy into mass.

By the way, they haven't found it yet, they only thought they had.

[billy]

yeah, but if higs transfers ennergy to mass, why iis mass constant and not for ever chaining (expanding)

[Leanne]

Mass is a more concentrated form of energy. There's nothing it really feels obliged to change into, unless you apply an equally concentrated form of energy to alter it (like a sledgehammer, I guess)

[billy]

i may of got it wrong in the last post.
i thought higs imparted mass. which in and of itself uses and creates energy
if that's the case.wouldn't all the mass the higgs created need to grow instead of simply being converted?

[Leanne]

I'm not sure I understand. Energy can neither be created nor destroyed, remember -- it can only change form, so however much energy was in the universe to begin with is how much there is still today, in some form or another. Why would anything "need to grow"? Some things gain energy, some lose it, but there's always a balance -- and some things just stay stable and constant, at least until something acts on them to change their state.

[srijantje]

cause and effect?

[Leanne]

Well, the effect's measurable -- we're still trying to figure out the cause, and it's entirely possible it's not anything to do with a Higgs boson. Of course, then we start talking about condensing quarks and antiquarks and it all just gets a bit silly

I think the one thing that remains constant through all theoretical physics is that physicists keep trying to outdo each other with ridiculous names to call things.

[billy]

okay, most are agreed that the higgs imparts mass, as far as i know the higs is still about, imparting mass (otherwise) ho can they recreate it, which if they do will mean it will have to impart mass for them to see it work.
if it imparts mass, it will also impart energy by default, unless of course the mass is in stasis; which would be impossible.if it imparts energy by default (because it imparted energy) where will that energy come from? ( i do understand that energy is a constant)