The "God particle"

This is all in the news at the moment so thought I'd start a thread. It's waaaaay complicated physics but this article gives a good summary of what they have found.

http://news.sky.com/story/955802/higgs-boson-experts-believe-in-god-particle

Quote :

Cern's evidence fits with the Higgs boson theory
Scientists believe they have discovered the Higgs Boson the elusive so-called "God particle" that could be the answer to what holds the universe together. Sky's Thomas Moore reports.
Video: Scientists Find Elusive Particle
Enlarge EmailScientists believe they have discovered a new sub-atomic particle that could be the Higgs boson.

Experts at the Cern research centre near Geneva, Switzerland, are confident they have caught sight of the so-called 'God particle', which lends mass to matter and holds the universe together.

The Higgs boson theory - proposed by British physicist Peter Higgs in the 1960s - suggests the existence of an invisible force field and associated sub-atomic particle that permeates all things, working like glue to give form to stars, planets and even humans.

Without the Higgs particle, the universe would have remained like a soup, the theory says.

In December last year, scientists at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) - the 'Big Bang' particle accelerator which recreates conditions a billionth of a second after the birth of the universe - revealed they had caught a first tantalising glimpse of a boson.

Since then they have sifted through vast quantities of data from innumerable high energy collisions in an effort to reduce the odds of being wrong.


The last page of Cern's Higgs boson presentation

Two independent teams, together made up of more than 5,000 scientists, said they have both "observed" a new boson.

Cern's director Rolf Heuer revealed: "We have now found the missing cornerstone of particle physics."

However, he tempered the announcement by adding scientists had not found the Higgs boson itself, but a new sub-atomic particle that acted in virtually the same manner as theorised.

"We have a discovery. We have observed a new particle that is consistent with a Higgs boson," Professor Heuer said.

Professor Higgs, currently at the University of Edinburgh, welcomed Cern's results, adding: "I never expected this to happen in my lifetime and shall be asking my family to put some champagne in the fridge."

At the LHC, scientists shoot two beams of protons - the "hearts" of atoms - at each other round 27km of circular tunnels at almost the speed of light.

When the protons smash together the enormous energies involved cause them to decay into an array of more fundamental particles. These may then decay further into yet more particles.

By following the decay patterns, scientists hope to see the "fingerprint" of the Higgs boson.

Physicists need the Higgs to plug a gaping hole in the "Standard Model", the theory that explains all the particles, forces and interactions making up the universe.

I was right! remember what i said in the " Questions forum.; our purpose is to question and by questioning we'll find the reason, the source..."God". Well thse scientists questioned and questioned and look what happened.

just finding the particle is merely the beginning. When people discovered radiation; nobody would've thought the myriad ways you can use it. It can be used to track things, operate machines, even cure people! i can imgine Scientists all over the world rejoicing as if it's the Second coming. maybe it is?

i saw something about this on the news this morning but it was too early for science ;)

I can see the religious right objectiing to it and not wanting it tought in schools! They want the universe to have been magically created by God, not explainable by science. I am so glad that we have people working hard to try and solve the mysteries of the universe, find it fascinating.

me too. i think those religious people should really learn how to use their brain. this is exactly what their god wants us to do.
When people prayed for a way to treat smallpox; god did'nt magically create a medicine.
If god created man; then the prayers have been answered. people have been given all the tools to find a cure themselves and they did! yet; the religulous(thank you Bill) call it 'science" and therefore it's not define.
to me god isn't a sentient entity. it's science, the universe! we're our own god. I wonder what this will mean 20 years from, now. What if the particle is able to generate unlimited energy and we can harness and control it. it would mean an end to fossil fuels and end to our way of living.on manyy levels. we fight wars over fossil fuels and happily pollute our planet, using it and making money from it. This god particle might be the next leap in our super-fast evolution.

that is funny you post this cause I just watched Angels and Demons the other day. The god particle or anti matter was the whole basis of that book

Well; the search for the God particle hasn't actually been a secret. dan Brown wrote a less than interesting story around it and suddenly people felt they were privy to "inside information". as if he 'broke the news' .

I hate dan brown:P He is NOT a writer!

I love Dan Browns books. Enjoyed them all.

Show me a writer who does not do research, copy and bend the truth and I show you Hemingway doing dishes. Browns only crime is that he made and makes money! He finds ideas and builds stories around them. The stories are also approachable and entertaining. You can hate his books but that doesn't mean he isn't a writer. Of course he is!

The God particle thing is of course very entertaining. Finding a piece that gives us mass is pretty awesome. But they don't really understand the nature of it.. that's the problem with science, sometimes they just move into a room without knowing the purpose of it. They call it God particle but it could be something else entirely.

Quote :

I love Dan Browns books. Enjoyed them all.

yuch:P They're ALL the same story wrapped around a different topic. the storylines are all EXACTLY the same! The villian is always the guy who is a trusted person in the beginning, then he's 'wrongly" accused for being the bad guy, gets vindicated and then it turns out he's the bad guy after all:P

okay, okay...he's a writer. As in: he writes things down. and I don't mind him making money. I mind his style! *in a huff*

Quote :

That's the problem with science, sometimes they just move into a room without knowing the purpose of it.

Exactly. that's what I meant with the discovery of radiaton. They did'nt know what it means and the purpose for it. a couple of decades later; it's used for all sorts of things. An that's just one example. maybe there;ll be no use for the God particle for years untill someone makes a discovery. Like what happened with radiation,penniciline(sp)fire,steam,etc,etc

scientists took samples from myself, Jesse, Dan, and Rodney to discover why we like cock so much; a pink molecule was found nestled in the DNA of our nether regions and has been christened 'the Sod particle'

:)

darkeyes80 wrote:

Quote :

I love Dan Browns books. Enjoyed them all.

yuch:P They're ALL the same story wrapped around a different topic. the storylines are all EXACTLY the same! The villian is always the guy who is a trusted person in the beginning, then he's 'wrongly" accused for being the bad guy, gets vindicated and then it turns out he's the bad guy after all:P

okay, okay...he's a writer. As in: he writes things down. and I don't mind him making money. I mind his style! *in a huff*

Quote :

That's the problem with science, sometimes they just move into a room without knowing the purpose of it.

Exactly. that's what I meant with the discovery of radiaton. They did'nt know what it means and the purpose for it. a couple of decades later; it's used for all sorts of things. An that's just one example. maybe there;ll be no use for the God particle for years untill someone makes a discovery. Like what happened with radiation,penniciline(sp)fire,steam,etc,etc

I agree with you, Rodney. I like his books but I do hate how they all have EXACTLY the same plot and EXACTLY the same kind of characters. Although The Lost Symbol I read last year and for me, I think that was his most interesting book, even though it still had exactly the same plot as all the rest

Yes and they are terrific! Who says every single book has to have depth and meaning. Sometimes they are just for entertainment. Not to mention two of his books got a huge part of society talking about issues. Sometimes a banana is just a banana.

I am with Dan! I accept entertainment for the sake of entertainment.

I hate bananas!


anyway; what do you think the God-particle could do for us,Dan?

the Sod Particle

I find quantum physics to be fascinating, proof that science and spirit can coexist

I agree with you, jesse. but it is also way too over my head, sometimes. I am not that smart to understand some of that stuff lol. That is why we are not all physicists lol