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The Higgs Boson Explained
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Re: The Higgs Boson Explained
Love the world of Quantum Physics.
Favorite joke: You are so stupid, you thought the Hardon Collider was a porno.
Love the world of Quantum Physics.
Favorite joke: You are so stupid, you thought the Hardon Collider was a porno.
Re: The Higgs Boson Explained
So if the LHC finds/confirms that this Higgs Bosson particle exists wont that just lead to more questions and smaller and smaller particles being discovered? I dont think the big guy is going to let us crack his building codes just yet? Do you?
So if the LHC finds/confirms that this Higgs Bosson particle exists wont that just lead to more questions and smaller and smaller particles being discovered? I dont think the big guy is going to let us crack his building codes just yet? Do you?
Re: The Higgs Boson Explained
very interesting. That concludes my intelligent video watching for the day. back to cartoons
very interesting. That concludes my intelligent video watching for the day. back to cartoons
Re: The Higgs Boson Explained
<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: woodspider</div><div class="ubbcode-body">So if the LHC finds/confirms that this Higgs Bosson particle exists wont that just lead to more questions and smaller and smaller particles being discovered? I dont think the big guy is going to let us crack his building codes just yet? Do you?</div></div>
Technically, since he is omnipotent anything we do discover is what he let us discover.
<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: woodspider</div><div class="ubbcode-body">So if the LHC finds/confirms that this Higgs Bosson particle exists wont that just lead to more questions and smaller and smaller particles being discovered? I dont think the big guy is going to let us crack his building codes just yet? Do you?</div></div>
Technically, since he is omnipotent anything we do discover is what he let us discover.
Re: The Higgs Boson Explained
<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Luke</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Did anyone see how much this machine cost? At roughly $9,000,000,000 I'm pretty sure we could have solved world hunger, clean water, malaria, and homelessness in one fell swoop...</div></div>
or you could pay 1/1,741th of the national debt. Or you could pay a little less than 3 days worth of increase on the national debt. Feel better now? I didn't think so.
<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Luke</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Did anyone see how much this machine cost? At roughly $9,000,000,000 I'm pretty sure we could have solved world hunger, clean water, malaria, and homelessness in one fell swoop...</div></div>
or you could pay 1/1,741th of the national debt. Or you could pay a little less than 3 days worth of increase on the national debt. Feel better now? I didn't think so.
Re: The Higgs Boson Explained
<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Luke</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Did anyone see how much this machine cost? At roughly $9,000,000,000 I'm pretty sure we could have solved world hunger, clean water, malaria, and homelessness in one fell swoop... </div></div>
I thought Amish people didn't have access to computers/internet....
<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Luke</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Did anyone see how much this machine cost? At roughly $9,000,000,000 I'm pretty sure we could have solved world hunger, clean water, malaria, and homelessness in one fell swoop... </div></div>
I thought Amish people didn't have access to computers/internet....
Re: The Higgs Boson Explained
<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: InsidetheStorm</div><div class="ubbcode-body">If thats the case... then what is Higgs Bosun made of... HMMMM???? </div></div>
Uh.... stuff?
<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: InsidetheStorm</div><div class="ubbcode-body">If thats the case... then what is Higgs Bosun made of... HMMMM???? </div></div>
Uh.... stuff?
Re: The Higgs Boson Explained
<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Luke</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Did anyone see how much this machine cost? At roughly $9,000,000,000 I'm pretty sure we could have solved world hunger, clean water, malaria, and homelessness in one fell swoop... </div></div>
Maybe the ultimate example of dollars v. velocity. And the gun writers complained that the FN FiveSeven wouldn't make a big enough hole in the target? Of course, with CERN the collateral energy would evaporate you.
Back in the Sixties we were still trying to find the quark and we thought it was the ONLY subatomic particle. Shah. And string theory was considered bullshit. We've come a long way, Mary Jane.
<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Luke</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Did anyone see how much this machine cost? At roughly $9,000,000,000 I'm pretty sure we could have solved world hunger, clean water, malaria, and homelessness in one fell swoop... </div></div>
Maybe the ultimate example of dollars v. velocity. And the gun writers complained that the FN FiveSeven wouldn't make a big enough hole in the target? Of course, with CERN the collateral energy would evaporate you.
Back in the Sixties we were still trying to find the quark and we thought it was the ONLY subatomic particle. Shah. And string theory was considered bullshit. We've come a long way, Mary Jane.
Re: The Higgs Boson Explained
The video explains what a Higgs Boson <span style="text-decoration: underline">does</span>, but not what it <span style="text-decoration: underline">is</span>.
I'm sort of a science geek so I decided I needed to know this. And I started researching. It was like peeling an avocado. Okay, it's a scalar boson. What's a boson? And what's scalar? Once I'd got past that, it was "What's integer spin?" followed closely by "If there's an integer spin, is there also a non-integer spin? And what do you call the particle with non-integer spin?"
And there was no apparent end to it. No matter how many terms I learned the meaning(s) of, there always was another pointy-headed term propping that term up, which invited further investigation. I couldn't tell if there even was a bottom to all of this, much less how many further layers away it might be before I would have the comprehensive knowing of what makes a Higgs Boson a Higgs Boson. And <span style="font-weight: bold">IF</span> I managed to get to the bottom of it, the next subatomic particle they discover will rewrite all this and I'd just have to start over.
Then I came across a reference that said a single subatomic particle has been detected in as many as 3000 locations ...simultaneously. At that point me head exploded and I went back to trying to unravel the mystery of PopRocks.
This all goes to what was happening in the universe a trillionth of a trillionth of a second after the start of "The Big Bang." The Achilles' heel of the traditional narrative of the Big Bang is that the universe initially ***<span style="font-style: italic">seems to have been</span>*** expanding faster than the speed of light. But if true, this would stand Einstein on his head, so they're looking for evidence as to why the world might have worked differently in that brief time frame. Did the Higgs Boson take longer than that to form? Or was it slow "switching on"? Could the extreme hyper-compaction of all that matter have caused the four fundamental forces to behave differently than they now do? Who knows?
Another interesting aspect of this is it could give scientists the first concrete evidence of what might have existed <span style="font-style: italic">before</span> the Big Bang. Until now, the only answers you'd get to that question either was wide-eyed "Nothing" or a shrug of the shoulders. So confirming the existence of the Higgs Boson could let the air out of the tires of one of the Creationists' favorite digs on the BB theory.
The video explains what a Higgs Boson <span style="text-decoration: underline">does</span>, but not what it <span style="text-decoration: underline">is</span>.
I'm sort of a science geek so I decided I needed to know this. And I started researching. It was like peeling an avocado. Okay, it's a scalar boson. What's a boson? And what's scalar? Once I'd got past that, it was "What's integer spin?" followed closely by "If there's an integer spin, is there also a non-integer spin? And what do you call the particle with non-integer spin?"
And there was no apparent end to it. No matter how many terms I learned the meaning(s) of, there always was another pointy-headed term propping that term up, which invited further investigation. I couldn't tell if there even was a bottom to all of this, much less how many further layers away it might be before I would have the comprehensive knowing of what makes a Higgs Boson a Higgs Boson. And <span style="font-weight: bold">IF</span> I managed to get to the bottom of it, the next subatomic particle they discover will rewrite all this and I'd just have to start over.
Then I came across a reference that said a single subatomic particle has been detected in as many as 3000 locations ...simultaneously. At that point me head exploded and I went back to trying to unravel the mystery of PopRocks.
This all goes to what was happening in the universe a trillionth of a trillionth of a second after the start of "The Big Bang." The Achilles' heel of the traditional narrative of the Big Bang is that the universe initially ***<span style="font-style: italic">seems to have been</span>*** expanding faster than the speed of light. But if true, this would stand Einstein on his head, so they're looking for evidence as to why the world might have worked differently in that brief time frame. Did the Higgs Boson take longer than that to form? Or was it slow "switching on"? Could the extreme hyper-compaction of all that matter have caused the four fundamental forces to behave differently than they now do? Who knows?
Another interesting aspect of this is it could give scientists the first concrete evidence of what might have existed <span style="font-style: italic">before</span> the Big Bang. Until now, the only answers you'd get to that question either was wide-eyed "Nothing" or a shrug of the shoulders. So confirming the existence of the Higgs Boson could let the air out of the tires of one of the Creationists' favorite digs on the BB theory.
Re: The Higgs Boson Explained
Since we live in a multiverse, there was plenty before our "universe"
Since we live in a multiverse, there was plenty before our "universe"
Re: The Higgs Boson Explained
<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Fred_C_Dobbs</div><div class="ubbcode-body">
Then I came across a reference that said a single subatomic particle has been detected in as many as 3000 locations ...simultaneously. At that point me head exploded and I went back to trying to unravel the mystery of PopRocks.
</div></div>
this is fucking funny!
<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Fred_C_Dobbs</div><div class="ubbcode-body">
Then I came across a reference that said a single subatomic particle has been detected in as many as 3000 locations ...simultaneously. At that point me head exploded and I went back to trying to unravel the mystery of PopRocks.
</div></div>
this is fucking funny!
Re: The Higgs Boson Explained
I am utterly certain the folks who run this project are brilliant and well educated.
The thing that troubles my HS Grad mind is that I've really, seriously, and honestly tried to study up and usderstand what's being done there. The experiment makes sense, the explanations of the how and the what happens jibe, and the extrapolations of outcomes also make sense.
What I can't encompass is all this dark matter, dark energy, dark force stuff. Strings, branes, 11th dimension.
Absolute farferdel.
Those folks have gone so far round the bend they can't see here from there to save their lives.
It's like the Emperor's new clothes.
Theory, conjecture, the very folks who are selling all of it are right up there telling you they don't have a smidge of proof, and they really don't know if what they are talking about is accurate, or as worthless as a bucket of horsepoop. Careers are built on this.
Universities are cranking our more of them every day, and entire institutes founded on this are getting funded by everyone, including you and me.
I think it's a really slick scam, myself. People who serve this up are driving nicer cars than I ever could.
Greg
I am utterly certain the folks who run this project are brilliant and well educated.
The thing that troubles my HS Grad mind is that I've really, seriously, and honestly tried to study up and usderstand what's being done there. The experiment makes sense, the explanations of the how and the what happens jibe, and the extrapolations of outcomes also make sense.
What I can't encompass is all this dark matter, dark energy, dark force stuff. Strings, branes, 11th dimension.
Absolute farferdel.
Those folks have gone so far round the bend they can't see here from there to save their lives.
It's like the Emperor's new clothes.
Theory, conjecture, the very folks who are selling all of it are right up there telling you they don't have a smidge of proof, and they really don't know if what they are talking about is accurate, or as worthless as a bucket of horsepoop. Careers are built on this.
Universities are cranking our more of them every day, and entire institutes founded on this are getting funded by everyone, including you and me.
I think it's a really slick scam, myself. People who serve this up are driving nicer cars than I ever could.
Greg
Re: The Higgs Boson Explained
So... They're looking for something that doesn't exist...no wait, they looking for something that may exist, but isn't around long enough to be seen....no wait, they're looking for evidence of something that can be seen, but comes from something else but the part that can be seen can come from something other than the thing that they can't see but theoretically exists, but even if they can see the results of what they can see, there not enough of a difference to be able to tell that what they think they saw that what may have came from something that doesn't exist anymore isn't significant enough to be able to tell the difference between what they think they might have seen and the background noise that's always evident.
I got it. I'm going to go play in traffic now.
So... They're looking for something that doesn't exist...no wait, they looking for something that may exist, but isn't around long enough to be seen....no wait, they're looking for evidence of something that can be seen, but comes from something else but the part that can be seen can come from something other than the thing that they can't see but theoretically exists, but even if they can see the results of what they can see, there not enough of a difference to be able to tell that what they think they saw that what may have came from something that doesn't exist anymore isn't significant enough to be able to tell the difference between what they think they might have seen and the background noise that's always evident.
I got it. I'm going to go play in traffic now.
Re: The Higgs Boson Explained
Don't worry guys, we all know the earth is flat and Atlas is dong well......
Don't worry guys, we all know the earth is flat and Atlas is dong well......
Re: The Higgs Boson Explained
Good video, but it would have been nice if maybe there weren't a bunch of eating noises over the guy talking. Hearing people eat is one of the few quite strong pet peeves of mine.
Good video, but it would have been nice if maybe there weren't a bunch of eating noises over the guy talking. Hearing people eat is one of the few quite strong pet peeves of mine.
Re: The Higgs Boson Explained
For those of you who enjoy this kind of thing, here's a refreshingly "now for something completely different " view of it all. Enjoy!
http://www.ted.com/talks/garrett_lisi_on_his_theory_of_everything.html
For those of you who enjoy this kind of thing, here's a refreshingly "now for something completely different " view of it all. Enjoy!
http://www.ted.com/talks/garrett_lisi_on_his_theory_of_everything.html
Re: The Higgs Boson Explained
I had to take a "history of science" class in undergraduate school (most boring class ever designed by man, I submit) and the one thing I learned was that at any given time in the history of mankind the scientific community was convinced that (1) they didn't know everything about everything but (2) they were on the right track, and (3) those guys a hundred years ago were totally full of shit.
A century ago Einstein published his Special Theory of Relativity (1905) followed by his General Theory of Relativity (1916). The theoretical physicists now are closing in on more subatomic particles than were ever imagined just back in the Sixties. Contemporary quantum theory doesn't even vaguely resemble the first version of quantum theory and there's a good basis for questioning our entire perception of reality. The stuff really does have practical application, too - if we ever harness plasma, for example, we can build plasma reactors that will generate electricity without the hazards associated with nuclear power.
And scientists don't earn jack shit. Median US salary for a physicist is about $57,000, and that's for PhD's with about eight years of higher education. All that money is going to manufacturing companies like GE and Raytheon and CERN. It sure ain't going to the grunts in the lab.
I had to take a "history of science" class in undergraduate school (most boring class ever designed by man, I submit) and the one thing I learned was that at any given time in the history of mankind the scientific community was convinced that (1) they didn't know everything about everything but (2) they were on the right track, and (3) those guys a hundred years ago were totally full of shit.
A century ago Einstein published his Special Theory of Relativity (1905) followed by his General Theory of Relativity (1916). The theoretical physicists now are closing in on more subatomic particles than were ever imagined just back in the Sixties. Contemporary quantum theory doesn't even vaguely resemble the first version of quantum theory and there's a good basis for questioning our entire perception of reality. The stuff really does have practical application, too - if we ever harness plasma, for example, we can build plasma reactors that will generate electricity without the hazards associated with nuclear power.
And scientists don't earn jack shit. Median US salary for a physicist is about $57,000, and that's for PhD's with about eight years of higher education. All that money is going to manufacturing companies like GE and Raytheon and CERN. It sure ain't going to the grunts in the lab.
