Naked Science Forum
Non Life Sciences => Physics, Astronomy & Cosmology => Topic started by: Jimbee on 28/08/2014 01:20:16
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My question may seem somewhat naïve to some. But why is the Higgs boson particle called the "God particle"? (Realize, it has been a while since I took high school physics. So much of my info comes from message boards like this one.)
Does this particle prove the existence of God? Is the particle itself God? Why?
[:)]
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My question may seem somewhat naïve to some. But why is the Higgs boson particle called the "God particle"? (Realize, it has been a while since I took high school physics. So much of my info comes from message boards like this one.)
Does this particle prove the existence of God? Is the particle itself God? Why?
[:)]
The Higgs Boson "God Particle" is thought to be the particle that gives mass to everything. The term "God Particle" was coined when referring to the Higgs simply because it was thought to solve many unanswered questions we have about our understanding of the physical world.
Here's a link: http://science.howstuffworks.com/higgs-boson.htm
And no, the Higgs is not proof for God.
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The term "god particle" is very misleading, it's not even a particle either. It's more of a field, it's just a fancy way of saying "the properties of space"
Space is the god particle technically, or rather the higgs boson/god particle refers to the properties of space time to distort in the presence of particles giving rise to gravity, mass and time dilation.
It is theorized that particles such as protons, neutrons and electrons are not solid objects like you would think, rather the particles are more like fields which interact with the higgs boson giving them their mass and their ability to distort space with that mass.
most people think that if a particle has more mass then that particle is "bigger" but that is apparently not the case, particles with more mass just interact with the higgs boson more then less massive particles such as electrons.
It dives deep into the counter intuitive world of quantum physics
It goes deep into the rabbit hole but makes no mention as to why the god particle/higgs boson exists in the first place (god made it probably)
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Jimbee, the "God particle" name is just something that's stuck. For no good reason. You can find out about this sort of stuff from A Zeptospace Odyssey: A Journey into the Physics of the LHC (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Zeptospace-Odyssey-Journey-into-Physics/dp/0199581916). It’s by CERN physicist Gian Francesco Giudice. He says this:
“The most inappropriate name ever given to the Higgs boson is ‘The God particle’. The name gives the impression that the Higgs boson is the central particle of the Standard Model, governing its structure. But this is very far from the truth..."
“The Higgs sector is that part of the theory that describes the Higgs mechanism and contains the Higgs boson. Unlike the rest of the theory, the Higgs sector is rather arbitrary, and its form is not dictated by any deep fundamental principle. For this reason its structure looks frightfully ad hoc...”
Gian says mass is the intrinsic energy of a body at rest, and reminds us of E=mc² wherein Einstein said the mass of a body is a measure of its energy-content. He then says the Higgs mechanism gives quarks their mass, but that quarks only comprise 1% of the mass of matter. He ends up saying this:
“In summary, the Higgs mechanism accounts for about 1 per cent of the mass of ordinary matter, and for only 0.2 per cent of the mass of the universe. This is not nearly enough to justify the claim of explaining the origin of mass”.
I read somewhere that God particle was actually a contraction of Goddamn particle, but I don't know the truth of that. See Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_God_Particle:_If_the_Universe_Is_the_Answer,_What_Is_the_Question%3F).