Higgs Boson announcement today

[Scoobos]

I think they are looking for 5 Sigma before they'll say it certainly exists.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but that means only a 17 billion to one chance of error.

Ok, its 3.5 million to one

[chef]

Challenge time...can anyone in very simple terms explain what the boson particle is and what it is trying to proove ?

Chap on the radio is trying to at the moment and is still confusing

take a look here Higgs Boson made simple

[VirtualMonkey]

Challenge time...can anyone in very simple terms explain what the boson particle is and what it is trying to proove ?

Chap on the radio is trying to at the moment and is still confusing

Essentially the higgs is a subatomic entity (particle if you like but not strictly true) that is responsible for generating/perpetuating a field called the higgs field.
This field acts upon other particles in such a way that it creates mass.
The best analogy i've seen is:
imagine a lake of treacle (the higgs field). energy (particles, etc.) is passing through the lake and as it does so some of the treacle sticks to the energy, slowing it down. The amount of treacle sticking to the energy is unique to each unit of energy (all energy has different charcteristics) and so each bit of energy slows down differently although similar types of energy slow down similarly. The slowing down is equivalent to adding mass (energy is mass afterall).
makes sense? probably not. i have an undergraduate in physics and i struggle with these concepts these days. it's been a while since i left uni

[hyperD]

Hmmm, doesn't make sense really.

Are you sure it's not the interference patterns created by the outlet eletroplasma medium power and the omnidirectional holo-diode generated force fields?

[chef]

Hmmm, doesn't make sense really.

Are you sure it's not the interference patterns created by the outlet eletroplasma medium power and the omnidirectional holo-diode generated force fields?

no that's the Holodeck you Trekky

[hyperD]

no that's the Holodeck you Trekky

Ah, no wonder my world seems so small - thanks chef!

[oscarose]

Essentially the higgs is a subatomic entity (particle if you like but not strictly true) that is responsible for generating/perpetuating a field called the higgs field.
This field acts upon other particles in such a way that it creates mass.
The best analogy i've seen is:
imagine a lake of treacle (the higgs field). energy (particles, etc.) is passing through the lake and as it does so some of the treacle sticks to the energy, slowing it down. The amount of treacle sticking to the energy is unique to each unit of energy (all energy has different charcteristics) and so each bit of energy slows down differently although similar types of energy slow down similarly. The slowing down is equivalent to adding mass (energy is mass afterall).
makes sense? probably not. i have an undergraduate in physics and i struggle with these concepts these days. it's been a while since i left uni

It's all greek to me

[Mich the Tester]

It's all greek to me

[BlasterBates]

You can never be really certain you've seen a particle which is everywhere at once, can you.

[darrenb]

Fools rush in where angels fear to tread. True they have found something that looks like Higgs Boson hiding in one of the physicist's old coat pockets. But what if it turns out what they have found is actually Higg's Button? Red faces all round.