# 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:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2013, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theyve-found-a-higgs-boson-particle/652945/21 "2013-03-16T03:09:57Z")
> [@](#): > > 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? Basically, it could be anywhere, and it could be anywhen. Roughly speaking, a universe in a metastable false vacuum is sort of like a container of supercooled or superheated water. It can stay that way for a while, but eventually some sort of disturbance will occur that will trigger it to start changing phase at one spot, and then the phase change there triggers the water around it to change phase too, and so on. Likewise, a suitable disturbance in the universe could cause a similar cascading phase-change throughout the universe. We presume that appropriate events are quite rare, because we’ve managed to make it this long without suffering any, so the best bet is that we’ll have to wait at least a similarly-long time before we see one, but of course we could get unlucky. ---
**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 16, 2013, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theyve-found-a-higgs-boson-particle/652945/22 "2013-03-16T03:23:33Z")
Jeebus, it’s ice-9! ---
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2013, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theyve-found-a-higgs-boson-particle/652945/23 "2013-03-18T03:49:36Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Basically, it could be anywhere, and it could be anywhen. Roughly speaking, a universe in a metastable false vacuum is sort of like a container of supercooled or superheated water. It can stay that way for a while, but eventually some sort of disturbance will occur that will trigger it to start changing phase at one spot, and then the phase change there triggers the water around it to change phase too, and so on. Likewise, a suitable disturbance in the universe could cause a similar cascading phase-change throughout the universe. We presume that appropriate events are quite rare, because we’ve managed to make it this long without suffering any, so the best bet is that we’ll have to wait at least a similarly-long time before we see one, but of course we could get unlucky. Interesting, thanks. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2013, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theyve-found-a-higgs-boson-particle/652945/24 "2013-03-18T04:09:33Z")
Bastards! They ruined the last episode of Lexx. ---
**Author:** ![Glazer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a88e57/32.png) [@Glazer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Glazer)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2013, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theyve-found-a-higgs-boson-particle/652945/25 "2013-03-18T04:43:06Z")
> [@DCnDC](#): > > 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 ;)) You’re familiar with the Electro-Magnetic Field? It is transmitted by Photons. And its most obvious feature is it gives things Surface. Well the Higgs Field is transmitted by Higgs Bosons. And its most obvious feature is it gives things Mass. And since Mass has enough energy to bend spacetime we fall down\*. Also why we have to expend so much energy to find the particle \*Up and Down being the spacial dimension perpendicular to the “Edge of the Universe”[sup]TM[/sup]. The Singularity everything is falling into. The one direction we can’t see, In is the Singularity and it is the Future. As we race toward the Event Horizon we accelerate to the Speed of Light, and the flow of Time approaches Zero. And Energy spent in the three Spacial Dimensions comes at the expense of speed toward the Event Horizon. Thus allowing a trickle of Time to flow which we experience as Now. We feel the Deceleration as Gravity. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2013, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theyve-found-a-higgs-boson-particle/652945/26 "2013-03-18T05:01:37Z")
> [@Glazer](#): > > \*Up and Down being the spacial dimension perpendicular to the “Edge of the Universe”[sup]TM[/sup]. The Singularity everything is falling into. The one direction we can’t see, In is the Singularity and it is the Future. As we race toward the Event Horizon we accelerate to the Speed of Light, and the flow of Time approaches Zero. And Energy spent in the three Spacial Dimensions comes at the expense of speed toward the Event Horizon. Thus allowing a trickle of Time to flow which we experience as Now. We feel the Deceleration as Gravity. Dammit, I don’t know whether this is Physics or Woo. The Capitalization hints at Woo. ---
**Author:** ![Glazer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a88e57/32.png) [@Glazer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Glazer)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2013, 5:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theyve-found-a-higgs-boson-particle/652945/27 "2013-03-18T05:30:59Z")
I read a lot of layman’s Physics books but know nothing of the Math. Nothing I’ve read contradicts the Universe being a Hypersphere floating just above an Event Horizon of the Future. Everywhere we look Outward is the Past. Everywhere we look Inward is Down. In and Down is the center of the Universe into which we are ever falling. The larger clumps of Mass that we can group into, the more energy we expend, the more velocity relative to the in out axis, the slower we fall. Areas with less total energy spent fall faster and travel through Time slower thus bending (stretching) the Spacetime in between. ---
**Author:** ![Pasta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ecccb3/32.png) [@Pasta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pasta)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2013, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theyve-found-a-higgs-boson-particle/652945/28 "2013-03-18T17:15:27Z")
> [@Sunspace](#): > > The Capitalization hints at Woo. The capitalization hints correctly. ---
**Author:** ![Glazer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a88e57/32.png) [@Glazer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Glazer)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2013, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theyve-found-a-higgs-boson-particle/652945/29 "2013-03-19T01:08:40Z")
> [@Sunspace](#): > > Dammit, I don’t know whether this is Physics or Woo. > > The Capitalization hints at Woo. > [@Pasta](#): > > The capitalization hints correctly. Well, laugh at my Ideas will you? I’ll show you. I’ll show you all!!! Ha hahahaaaa!!! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theyve-found-a-higgs-boson-particle/652945.md?page=1)