• Higgs Boson explained
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[img]http://resources2.news.com.au/cs/newscomau/v2/_shared/base/css/images/icons/homepage-title.png[/img] Source: [url]http://www.news.com.au/technology/sci-tech/higgs-boson-explained-with-twilight-video-bonus/story-fn5fsgyc-1226220927156[/url] [img]http://resources0.news.com.au/images/2011/12/13/1226220/963236-higgs-boson.jpg[/img] Rolf-Dieter Heuer, director-general of CERN, gives the Dummies Guide to What the Higgs Boson Looks Like. Picture: CERN. Source: Supplied [img]http://resources0.news.com.au/images/2011/12/13/1226220/964668-higgs-boson.jpg[/img] What the Higgs Boson probably looks like, by the CERN design team. Picture: CERN. [release][B]SCIENTISTS at CERN - the makers of the Large Hadron Collider - are tonight expected to announce they found what they came for.[/B] The Higgs Boson is known as the God Particle, or the Holy Grail of physics. But what is it and why is it important? [B]LET'S START BIG[/B] If you recall anything from school science, you might remember that stuff is made from molecules. Molecules are made from groups of atoms. Inside an atom are electrons surrounding a nucleus. Inside the nucleus are protons and neutrons. [B]IF YOU'VE GOT THAT, READ ON[/B] Protons and neutrons are made out of quarks. Quarks come in six flavours - up and down; charm and strange; top and bottom. Which isn't important apart from the fact that QUARKS HAZ A FLAVA. [B]YOU MIGHT WANT TO READ ABOUT THE CRITIC WHO IMPLIED [url=http://www.news.com.au/entertainment/celebrity/new-york-times-theatre-critic-ben-brantley-says-hugh-jackman-comports-himself-on-stage-like-a-flaming-queen/story-e6frfmqi-1226220619780]HUGH JACKMAN WAS BISEXUAL[/url] NOW[/B] So now we've dissected the building blocks of stuff down from a molecule, which you thought was tiny but is actually elephantine compared to where we're going, which is the aforementioned quark. And quarks are one of the three groups that make up matter - quarks, leptons and bosons. So quarks (remember, six flavours) make the protons and neutrons inside the nucleus of an atom. [url=http://www.news.com.au/technology/sci-tech/higgs-boson-explained-with-twilight-video-bonus/comments-fn5fsgyc-1226220927156][B]COMMENTS: I'm an outraged scientist and I want to complain[/B][/url] One of the bosons (there are four flavours) sticks them together and is called a gluon, which sounds like glue and is therefore probably the easiest concept out of all of this comprehend. If you're a Trekker, you might be interested to know that the boson that blows things apart is called a photon. And one of the leptons (there's also six flavours) is the electron. [B]I THINK I GOT IT. NOW TELL ME WHERE THE HIGGS BOSON FITS IN.[/B] The problem with all this is gravity. If everything is made up of these particles, what's gravity grabbing hold of and making sure it all sticks to Earth? In short, what makes all these particles actually weigh something? What gives them substance? All matter has mass. We know that, because we can see it and feel it. But how does it get mass? The theory is that we get mass from a particle that hasn't been discovered yet - the Higgs Boson. And for the Higgs Boson to exist, the entire universe has to be wrapped in something called the Higgs Field. As particles fly through the Higgs Field, they pick up mass. The Higgs Boson binds it all together. If you think it's all sounding a bit like the way George Lucas explained the Force in The Phantom Menace, that's because it is. Except with less lightsabers. [B]SLOW DOWN EGGHEAD - I NEED A BREAK. SHOW ME SOMETHING AWESOME FROM YOUTUBE WITH THE ASIAN GUY FROM STAR TREK IN IT[/B] [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mvTCr5Z-0lA[/media] [B]SO IT'S THE FORCE? FTW? THEY'RE MAKING IT ALL UP?[/B] Well, insofar that theorists make anything up. So they spent $4bn and enlisted the help of 10,000 scientists to build the Large Hadron Collider. It has many tasks, but one main one - to find the Higgs Boson. [B]OH YEAH? HOW'S IT GOING TO DO THAT THEN?[/B] How's it been doing that, you mean. Since 2008, the LHC has been smashing atoms together and watching them explode back into their pre-gluon states. Basically, as in the moments a billionth of a second after the Big Bang. By watching how they reform back into matter (or anti-matter, about which there are several awesome Star Trek breakthroughs you can read about here), scientists are answering the biggest questions in the universe. Namely, how was it made and, when we find out, what can we do with the knowledge? If you're thinking teleportation, hoverboards and photon drives, don't. Because that may actually be the case and if it doesn't turn out to be true, the pain would be too unbearable. They've pretty much got more of it downpat than humans probably should be responsible for. For instance, last year, an LHC rival in the US, [url=http://www.bnl.gov/rhic/news2/news.asp?a=1074&t=pr]the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider, made gluon soup[/url]. For physicists, finding the Higgs Boson is like the day you first got a Magic Eye picture to work. From then on, everything makes sense. [B]SO WHAT HAPPENS IF THEY DON'T FIND THE GOD PARTICLE?[/B] That's easy. We: a) Throw out all the particle physics and quantum dynamics theories, or b) Build a bigger LHC. Oh, wait... [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_Large_Hadron_Collider]they already have[/url]. [B]Peter Farquhar is the former Technology Editor of news.com.au. He has [url=http://www.news.com.au/technology/were-sorry-for-claiming-captain-kirk-was-in-command-of-captain-picards-starship/story-e6frfro0-1225947119042]been known to get physics wrong[/url] before.[/B][/release] Note: This was posted exactly as it is seen on the [url=http://www.news.com.au/technology/sci-tech/higgs-boson-explained-with-twilight-video-bonus/story-fn5fsgyc-1226220927156]source[/url].
How is this news? The entire Standard Model which is older than 99% of the posters here is based upon the Higgs Boson existing, so I don't see how this is "Sensational News".
[QUOTE=Noth;33700127] [img]http://resources0.news.com.au/images/2011/12/13/1226220/963236-higgs-boson.jpg[/img][/QUOTE] Higgs Boson: The fabulous particle.
we've got to go deeper
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[B]WATCH THE PRESS CONFERENCE LIVE HERE: [/B] [URL]http://webcast.web.cern.ch/webcast/[/URL] I don't understand a thing, but it's awesome.
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This isn't really news, but this is. [QUOTE][URL="http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2011/12/13/international/i044844S88.DTL"]New data to be shared in hunt for elusive particle[/URL] Scientists involved with the world's largest atom smasher prepared Tuesday to unveil the latest data in their hunt for a subatomic particle believed to be a basic building block of the universe — information that may narrow the region the elusive particle can be found. The data about the so-called Higgs boson has generated much buzz among researchers, who believe it could help explain many scientific mysteries. The particle was named for British physicist Peter Higgs, who theorized its existence more than 40 years ago to explain the puzzle of how atoms — and everything else in the universe — have weight. Although it would be an enormous scientific breakthrough for the physics world if the Higgs boson was found, officials at CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research near Geneva, have ruled out making any such announcement this year. However, CERN scientists have told The Associated Press that the latest information from the $10-billion Large Hadron Collider under the Swiss-French border helps narrow the region of the search for the particle. The physicists said the data would exclude some of the higher energy ranges where the Higgs might be found and show some intriguing "events" — hints, glimpses, or possible sightings — at the lower energy ranges that remain unconfirmed. Joe Incandela, a top CERN physicist, has described the data from one of the two main experiments as being "right at the boundary of where you might get a vague hint of something." Leaders of the two main experiments, ATLAS and CMS, are to present their data Tuesday. To provide more certainty about what is being found, the teams work independently of each other at the collider — a 17-mile (27-kilometer tunnel) where high energy beams of protons are sent crashing into each other at incredible speeds. Read more: [URL]http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2011/12/13/international/i044844S88.DTL#ixzz1gQA99NCI[/URL][/QUOTE]
This is more informative than it is news, but it is still a good article to prepare us for LHC's coming announcement on the Higgs Boson.
Is it happening right now? oh man oh god oh man I can't even watch it
So I guess from what I can understand from the conference so far: Atlas found that the mass of the Higgs (if it exist) is somewhere between 115.5 and 131 GeV, with a spike at 126 GeV. For me that sounds like it is now likely that we've observed it, but we can't quite put our finger on it yet. Thoughts?
George Takei was the best part of the article
When I first read the title I though it said "Higgs Boson exploded"
[img]http://resources0.news.com.au/images/2011/12/13/1226220/963236-higgs-boson.jpg[/img] No Higgs Boson, but they have discovered that if you put your fingers together like that and unfocus a little, it looks like a string of sausages.
[QUOTE=squids_eye;33700987][img]http://resources0.news.com.au/images/2011/12/13/1226220/963236-higgs-boson.jpg[/img] No Higgs Boson, but they have discovered that if you put your fingers together like that and unfocus a little, it looks like a string of sausages.[/QUOTE] Now [I]that's[/I] news!
Hnnng quark is already German for curd and you made it even more silly o read by talking about different quark flavors. I miss the times when particles and elements were named after their effect and not their discoverer. Sure it might be a huge honor for the guy, but when he's dead we end up with confused students and a generation of scientists so comfortable with the term they won't bother changing it. I also wonder if in a distant future in a scenario where we don't destroy the planet and eradicate all knowledge we'll be able to control gravity through the Higgs boson. Frickin higgs. The (German?) transcription for the sound you make when having a hiccup is the name for one of the most important/interesting objects in today's day and age. SCIENCE.
[QUOTE=Marik Bentusi;33702009]Hnnng quark is already German for curd and you made it even more silly o read by talking about different quark flavors.I miss the times when particles and elements were named after their effect and not their discoverer. Sure it might be a huge honor for the guy, but when he's dead we end up with confused students and a generation of scientists so comfortable with the term they won't bother changing it.I also wonder if in a distant future in a scenario where we don't destroy the planet and eradicate all knowledge we'll be able to control gravity through the Higgs boson.Frickin higgs. The (German?) transcription for the sound you make when having a hiccup is the name for one of the most important/interesting objects in today's day and age.SCIENCE.[/QUOTE]Cause German isn't the only language?
[QUOTE=Noth;33700127][img]http://resources0.news.com.au/images/2011/12/13/1226220/963236-higgs-boson.jpg[/img][/QUOTE] [I]"They say if I cross my eyes and pull my fingers apart slightly a floating sausage will appear"[/I]
[QUOTE=Averice;33702182]Cause German isn't the only language?[/QUOTE] I think you're taking my post way too seriously. The divine world-changing curd-hiccup particle was supposed to be a joke.
[quote]Which isn't important apart from the fact that QUARKS HAZ A FLAVA. YOU MIGHT WANT TO READ ABOUT THE CRITIC WHO IMPLIED HUGH JACKMAN WAS BISEXUAL NOW[/quote] That's a lot of science in two lines.
[QUOTE=Marik Bentusi;33702009]Hnnng quark is already German for curd and you made it even more silly o read by talking about different quark flavors. I miss the times when particles and elements were named after their effect and not their discoverer. Sure it might be a huge honor for the guy, but when he's dead we end up with confused students and a generation of scientists so comfortable with the term they won't bother changing it. I also wonder if in a distant future in a scenario where we don't destroy the planet and eradicate all knowledge we'll be able to control gravity through the Higgs boson. Frickin higgs. The (German?) transcription for the sound you make when having a hiccup is the name for one of the most important/interesting objects in today's day and age. SCIENCE.[/QUOTE] Gluons are called after glue, yet they are named after glue since they "glue" the quarks together in mesons and baryons and what have you. WHAT DO YOU HAVE TO SAY FOR YOURSELF NOW?
are there any limits as to what we can call new particles? I want to become a physicist so if I discover a new particle, one of its properties will be named "sexiness"
[QUOTE=DainBramageStudios;33703085]are there any limits as to what we can call new particles? I want to become a physicist so if I discover a new particle, one of its properties will be named "sexiness"[/QUOTE] And that is why you can't become a scientist.
[QUOTE=Kendra;33700177]How is this news? The entire Standard Model which is older than 99% of the posters here is based upon the Higgs Boson existing, so I don't see how this is "Sensational News".[/QUOTE] Gary named ITN to sensationalist headlines because thats what he thinks all is posted here. it isn't reserved for sensationalist headlines only.
I watched the ATLAS announcement live with some people from my course and my thermal physics lecturer (who incidentally also works in particle physics). Interesting stuff but nothing especially unexpected, just have to wait ages for the reliabilityto be improved and the results vetted and whatnot. [QUOTE=Marik Bentusi;33702009]Hnnng quark is already German for curd and you made it even more silly o read by talking about different quark flavors. I miss the times when particles and elements were named after their effect and not their discoverer. Sure it might be a huge honor for the guy, but when he's dead we end up with confused students and a generation of scientists so comfortable with the term they won't bother changing it. I also wonder if in a distant future in a scenario where we don't destroy the planet and eradicate all knowledge we'll be able to control gravity through the Higgs boson. Frickin higgs. The (German?) transcription for the sound you make when having a hiccup is the name for one of the most important/interesting objects in today's day and age. SCIENCE.[/QUOTE] What are you on about? Historically effects, processes and laws have always had the name of their discoverer or even the place of their discovery attached to them. Everything from Newton's Laws of Gravitation, the Haber process, the Casimer effect, Ohm's Law, Cherenkov radiation... the list is endless! The only real exception to this are elements which are named after a famous scientist that isn't necessarily the person who discovered them. [QUOTE=DainBramageStudios;33703085]are there any limits as to what we can call new particles? I want to become a physicist so if I discover a new particle, one of its properties will be named "sexiness"[/QUOTE] Generally speaking there are committees and commissions for naming of particles and elements and the like and, whilst their discoverers do have some say, if you wanted to name your shiny new particle a 'Hardon' then chances are you would be overruled by the scientific community. Minor celestial bodies, on the other hand, are pretty much fair game and so your dream of name an asteroid Cockwank may still be realised.
holy shit, that article really made me understand what the lhc is all about , cleared everything up for me great read
[QUOTE=FalconKrunch;33703409]And that is why you can't become a scientist.[/QUOTE] What, is it so wrong that he wants to discover sexiness? Let him have his fun.
[QUOTE=Frisk;33704458]What, is it so wrong that he wants to discover sexiness? Let him have his fun.[/QUOTE] In all interactions, sexiness is conserved [editline]13th December 2011[/editline] I'll get my coat
Never before have I known so much
[img]http://resources0.news.com.au/images/2011/12/13/1226220/963236-higgs-boson.jpg[/img] This is what it looks like to hold a Higgs Boson
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