# How exactly does the Higgs Field give particles mass.
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-exactly-does-the-higgs-field-give-particles-mass/729186
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [August 28, 2015, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-exactly-does-the-higgs-field-give-particles-mass/729186 "2015-08-28T17:31:29Z")
**Posts on this page:** 7
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)
#### Post date: [August 28, 2015, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-exactly-does-the-higgs-field-give-particles-mass/729186/1 "2015-08-28T17:31:29Z")
The few times I’ve seen an answer to this question, it is through an analogy that reminds me of explaining [what time is](http://dilbert.com/strip/1991-04-13). So how does a Higgs Field give particles mass and why are some particles massless despite the Higgs Field?
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### Author:  [@barbitu8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/barbitu8)
#### Post date: [August 28, 2015, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-exactly-does-the-higgs-field-give-particles-mass/729186/2 "2015-08-28T20:02:51Z")
This message board has many references to this. Try this one: [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=726703&highlight=Higgs+Field](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=726703&highlight=Higgs+Field)
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### Author:  [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)
#### Post date: [December 9, 2015, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-exactly-does-the-higgs-field-give-particles-mass/729186/3 "2015-12-09T02:42:15Z")
None of those posts answered my question.
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### Author:  [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)
#### Post date: [December 9, 2015, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-exactly-does-the-higgs-field-give-particles-mass/729186/4 "2015-12-09T03:05:56Z")
First of all, the analogy you usually hear is completely useless. You’re right to forget about it. Mass doesn’t act that way.
Second, the Higgs field isn’t responsible for _all_ mass, nor even for the majority of it: Most of the mass we’re familiar with is ultimately due to the binding energy of protons and neutrons. The mass of the individual quarks, and of electrons (which does come from Higgs), is relatively insignificant. Neutrinos might get their mass from Higgs, or they might get it from something unrelated called the Majorana mechanism: Last I heard, the jury was still out on that one.
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### Author:  [@Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Itself)
#### Post date: [December 9, 2015, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-exactly-does-the-higgs-field-give-particles-mass/729186/5 "2015-12-09T03:18:45Z")
We can interpret the weak interaction as arising from spontaneous symmetry breaking of the electroweak symmetry. The corresponding Goldstone bosons would be massless, though, whereas the W and Z bosons do have nonzero mass (as inferred, for example, from the variation of the interaction with distance). The Higgs mechanism explains how those gauge bosons acquire mass. That’s about as simple as an explanation can get without digressing into misleading and pointless analogies or quantum woo.
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### Author:  [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)
#### Post date: [December 9, 2015, 10:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-exactly-does-the-higgs-field-give-particles-mass/729186/6 "2015-12-09T10:12:34Z")
I think the prior thread you’re looking for is [this one](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=634262), which quotes from a Yahoo News article in which Yahoo’s Teeming Millions explain everything.
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### Author:  [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)
#### Post date: [December 9, 2015, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-exactly-does-the-higgs-field-give-particles-mass/729186/7 "2015-12-09T13:28:35Z")
**The Higgs Boson walks into a church. The priest says we don’t allow Higgs Bosons in here. The Higgs Boson says but without me how can you have mass?**