# They've found a Higgs boson particle **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [March 14, 2013, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theyve-found-a-higgs-boson-particle/652945 "2013-03-14T19:52:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![teela\_brown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d9b06d/32.png) [@teela\_brown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teela_brown)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2013, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theyve-found-a-higgs-boson-particle/652945/1 "2013-03-14T19:52:04Z")
I pretend to no knowledge whatsoever about physics, and especially this esoteric field. I only know what I read in newspaper blurbs and what Sheldon Cooper talks about as he writes up formulas on his white boards. But even I can see that this is [big time stuff](http://science.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/03/14/17311477-particle-confirmed-as-higgs-boson). The Hadron collider in Switzerland was instrumental in making the find, of course. I’d sure like to see the collider someday; even the pictures of it are damned impressive. Speaking of Sheldon, wouldn’t it be cool if they wrote an episode around this discovery and Sheldon’s reaction to other professors getting the kudos? ---
**Author:** ![Terr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/839c29/32.png) [@Terr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terr)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2013, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theyve-found-a-higgs-boson-particle/652945/2 "2013-03-14T19:53:39Z")
I don’t think Sheldon would care about the “kudos” - the ones getting it are experimental physicists, and he, as a theoretical physicist, is so high up above them he can see them as little ants around his feet. ---
**Author:** ![smiling\_bandit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2013, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theyve-found-a-higgs-boson-particle/652945/3 "2013-03-14T20:19:19Z")
Well, damn. We’re all going to be retroactively wiped from existence. ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2013, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theyve-found-a-higgs-boson-particle/652945/4 "2013-03-14T20:43:00Z")
Interesting. I understood most of the individual words in that article, but put together it means next to nothing to me. It’s the same feeling I get when a car breaks down and I open up the hood for no reason other than to _look_ like I’m looking for something wrong (and have even a vague idea of how to fix it). Could somebody kindly explain exactly what this means? (the Higgs boson, not the car thing ;)) ---
**Author:** ![LawMonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d6d6ee/32.png) [@LawMonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LawMonkey)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2013, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theyve-found-a-higgs-boson-particle/652945/5 "2013-03-14T20:49:32Z")
Totally beyond me, but good on them. I also suggest they call it the “Higgs bos’n”, and nominate [Higgs](http://girlgenius.wikia.com/wiki/The_Unstoppable_Higgs) to be its mascot-spokestoon. ---
**Author:** ![leahcim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b4bc9f/32.png) [@leahcim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/leahcim)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2013, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theyve-found-a-higgs-boson-particle/652945/6 "2013-03-14T21:16:41Z")
> [@LawMonkey](#): > > Totally beyond me, but good on them. I also suggest they call it the “Higgs bos’n”, and nominate [Higgs](http://girlgenius.wikia.com/wiki/The_Unstoppable_Higgs) to be its mascot-spokestoon. I propose that any bound state composed of Higgs particles be named a “[Higglypuff](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jigglypuff)”. ---
**Author:** ![Balance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ccd318/32.png) [@Balance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balance)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2013, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theyve-found-a-higgs-boson-particle/652945/7 "2013-03-14T23:15:41Z")
> [@DCnDC](#): > > Could somebody kindly explain exactly what this means? (the Higgs boson, not the car thing ;)) It’s essentially confirmation (or at least strong support) for the Standard Model of particle physics, which is the model we’ve mostly been using for a while to discuss small bits of stuff. That is, it’s what particle physics uses to describe all the protons, electrons, neutrons, neutrinos, quarks, and so forth. The Higgs Boson is the last big piece of that model to actually be observed. It’s the particle that mediates the Higgs Field, which is thought to be what gives mass to fundamental particles. ---
**Author:** ![Pasta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ecccb3/32.png) [@Pasta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pasta)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2013, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theyve-found-a-higgs-boson-particle/652945/8 "2013-03-15T00:22:05Z")
When the first results came out last year, there was a string of threads. A subset of them: [Higgs boson discovery confirmation](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=657471) [Higgs Boson Questions](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=675727) [Higgs Boson or just a new particle?](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=657729) [What happens if the Higgs boson is confirmed?](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=657253) The new info is that the particle discovered last summer seems to have several key properties that would be expected of a Higgs boson. ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2013, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theyve-found-a-higgs-boson-particle/652945/9 "2013-03-15T03:52:52Z")
Was it in the couch cushions? ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2013, 7:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theyve-found-a-higgs-boson-particle/652945/10 "2013-03-15T07:12:54Z")
> [@Balance](#): > > … The Higgs Boson is the last big piece of that model to actually be observed. … If it was that big a piece, I’d have thought they would have found it years ago. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2013, 7:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theyve-found-a-higgs-boson-particle/652945/11 "2013-03-15T07:14:20Z")
What’s an atheist to think now that the God Particle is confirmed? ---
**Author:** ![JoseB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/joseb/32/1530_2.png) [@JoseB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JoseB)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2013, 8:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theyve-found-a-higgs-boson-particle/652945/12 "2013-03-15T08:16:59Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > What’s an atheist to think now that the God Particle is confirmed? You know that particle physicist Leon Lederman (the man who originated that particular moniker) wanted to call it “the Goddamn particle” in a book, but his editor didn’t let him do so, right? What I find fascinating is that the mass of this Higgs candidate is right around the value that guarantees that, at some point (hopefully in the very distant future), the universe will suddenly cease to exist. ---
**Author:** ![JoseB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/joseb/32/1530_2.png) [@JoseB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JoseB)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2013, 8:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theyve-found-a-higgs-boson-particle/652945/13 "2013-03-15T08:25:11Z")
Missed edit window! 😛 My previous post should also say “…in combination with the mass of the Top quark (which is not yet known with enough precision)” ---
**Author:** ![drewtwo99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d07c76/32.png) [@drewtwo99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewtwo99)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2013, 8:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theyve-found-a-higgs-boson-particle/652945/14 "2013-03-15T08:25:34Z")
> [@JoseB](#): > > What I find fascinating is that the mass of this Higgs candidate is right around the value that guarantees that, at some point (hopefully in the very distant future), the universe will suddenly cease to exist. Is this because we are now in a meta-stable energy level and it then it will “shift” to the true lowest energy level for the vacuum? Does the Higg’s Boson energy/mass tell us that, or are you referring to something else? ---
**Author:** ![JoseB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/joseb/32/1530_2.png) [@JoseB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JoseB)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2013, 8:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theyve-found-a-higgs-boson-particle/652945/15 "2013-03-15T08:31:01Z")
> [@drewtwo99](#): > > Is this because we are now in a meta-stable energy level and it then it will “shift” to the true lowest energy level for the vacuum? Does the Higg’s Boson energy/mass tell us that, or are you referring to something else? Basically that, yes. Given the estimated values for the masses of the Higgs boson and the Top quark, they happen to be around the “right” values for the Universe to be a bubble of false vacuum in space that at some point will suddenly “revert” to true vacuum, with the result that all particles will be changed into something else. Douglas Adams was right. DAMN!! ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2013, 10:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theyve-found-a-higgs-boson-particle/652945/16 "2013-03-15T10:25:09Z")
> [@Zebra](#): > > Was it in the couch cushions? It was under the front seat of my car in a pair of spare shoes I keep there. There was one particle in each shoe. ---
**Author:** ![bot3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/41988e/32.png) [@bot3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bot3)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2013, 10:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theyve-found-a-higgs-boson-particle/652945/17 "2013-03-15T10:51:51Z")
Did you really find it or did you steal it? If you give back now, no one will say anything. ---
**Author:** ![MacTech](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c0e974/32.png) [@MacTech](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MacTech)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2013, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theyve-found-a-higgs-boson-particle/652945/18 "2013-03-16T00:08:53Z")
Great, just great, now the Earth is doomed to be compressed into a [super-dense particle the size of a pea…](http://youtu.be/LDKo7pTwIwA) Good going, CERN :smack::smack: 😉 ---
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2013, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theyve-found-a-higgs-boson-particle/652945/19 "2013-03-16T00:16:33Z")
> [@JoseB](#): > > What I find fascinating is that the mass of this Higgs candidate is right around the value that guarantees that, at some point (hopefully in the very distant future), the universe will suddenly cease to exist. I was reading about that but didn’t run across an explanation for why this was going to happen in billions of years, as opposed to any moment now. I also read that this destruction of the universe would come at us “at the speed of light.” Originating where? ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2013, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theyve-found-a-higgs-boson-particle/652945/20 "2013-03-16T02:53:28Z")
> [@Zebra](#): > > Was it in the couch cushions? A couple of months ago, I met a nice young couple at church: “So, what do you guys do?” _“I’m a middle-school English teacher.”_ she says. He says, kind of embarrassedly, _“I… umm, work for CERN.”_ So I of course ask him if he’s made any black holes (_“Yeah, but we plugged them with chocolate.”_), and then he says: _“Oh, and the Higgs Boson? We found it… tell him where, hon.”_ Wife rolls eyes and sighs: _“It was in his underwear drawer ALL along…”_ [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theyve-found-a-higgs-boson-particle/652945.md?page=2)