# Does energy cause gravity?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-energy-cause-gravity/637893
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [October 16, 2012, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-energy-cause-gravity/637893 "2012-10-16T16:00:59Z")
**Posts on this page:** 2
**Page:** 3
### Author:  [@Blue\_Blistering\_Barnacle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blue_Blistering_Barnacle)
#### Post date: [May 2, 2016, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-energy-cause-gravity/637893/41 "2016-05-02T16:07:57Z")
> [@Itself](#):
>
> The Higgs particle has nothing to do with gravity. The W and Z bosons arise from spontaneous symmetry breaking in weak interactions. We’d thus expect them to be massless, being Goldstone bosons, but they’re actually quite massive. The Higgs mechanism explains how they have mass, and the discovery of the Higgs boson was huge experimental evidence for that mechanism. The effects of gravity are completely negligible at the quantum level (at least, under reasonable laboratory conditions for the foreseeable future), given the masses and timescales involved. (Special relativity is still hugely important, though.)
> [@Chronos](#):
>
> On that same topic: The Higgs is also suspected to be responsible for the mass of several other subatomic particles.
>
> However:
>
> The vast majority of the mass of planets, stars, and the other macroscopic objects we are familiar with has nothing at all to do with the Higgs. Most of the mass we’re familiar with is in protons and neutrons. A proton or a neutron is each composed of three quarks, and quarks might get their mass from the Higgs mechanism. But the mass of a proton or neutron is much greater than three times the mass of a quark. Most of the mass of protons and neutrons, and hence most of the mass we’re familiar with, is due to the binding energy of the Strong Force which holds the quarks together.
>
> And gravity works equally on all mass, regardless of whether it’s due to binding energy (of any of the four fundamental forces), the Higgs mechanism, the Majorana mechanism, or any other source.
Regarding Higgs mechanism and mass:
I had thought Higgs was supposed to explain mass for all the fundamental particles.
Can anyone rate the (rough) probability (eg with words like probably, quite possibly, probably not) that the Higgs mechanism is giving mass to various things (like quarks, electrons, neutrinos, W bosons, and whoever I forgot to mention).
Also, I tried to look up Majorana mechanism, but other than discovering that there is also a Dirac mechnanism in addition to Majorana, I found myself merely more confused.
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### Author:  [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)
#### Post date: [May 2, 2016, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-energy-cause-gravity/637893/42 "2016-05-02T16:40:43Z")
The Higgs mechanism is almost definitely responsible for the mass of the W and Z, as it accounts for some nice tidy mathematical relationships that are observed between them. It’s also considered the most probable cause for the mass of the quarks and charged leptons (electrons etc.): There aren’t really any major competing hypotheses for those. Neutrinos are an unknown, because there are multiple plausible models for them, and they’re so hard to study: They might be an example (probably the only example) of a Majorana particle, which by itself would be enough to account for their mass. Alternately, they might be a Dirac particle, which (as I understand it) does not by itself require that they be massive, but would be compatible with the Higgs mechanism causing their mass. Last I looked at the matter seriously, there were various research groups claiming a very high degree of confidence for both models: I don’t know if that’s been resolved yet.
There are no other known massive fundamental particles other than the quarks, charged leptons, neutrinos, W, and Z. There are, of course, plenty of hypothesized ones, some of which would be associated with the Higgs and some of which would not (as well as some for which there’s no way of knowing yet).
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