Higgs Boson

[Posts: 330Joined: 01 Jan 1970, 01:00]

Massive day, lots of Higgsteria. So we now know where the mass comes from that slows horses down. However, the Standard Model still fails to shed light on why Barney Curley is still allowed to continue being a prize boson. Though, 126GeV passed through him might cease his pollution of the dataset.

[Posts: 464Joined: 30 Oct 2011, 10:43Location: North Yorkshire]

I must admit that I'm rather frightened by the sight of this 'big machine'. I'm really surprised that the top hasn't blown off Switzerland by now.
I'm not a very scientific person, mainly because I don't understand it all and I'm too ancient to start now. Is it going to make a big difference to mankind to know that this 'ere particle existed at one time if it doesn't exist now?
Sorry I'm such a dinosaur, but pass me the magnifying glass, please, that's good enough for me!!.

[Posts: 4493Joined: 03 Sep 2007, 22:56Location: Milton Keynes]

(Frankel + Camelot + Black Caviar + Sea The Stars)*10,000 still does not equal the excitement of the Higgs boson announcement.

[Posts: 4159Joined: 20 Jan 2006, 11:28Location: The Ainsty of York]

Most interesting and I do hope the discovery is confirmed as this is genuine Life, The Universe and Everything stuff

Though as Stephen Hawking has pointedly remarked 'it would be more interesting if they didn't find it'

Try as I might to conquer Particle Physics, Quantum Mechanics, String Theory and Relativity they all continue to baffle, which is why it fascinates so much

Isaac Newton's famous words seem apt:

I was like a boy playing on the sea-shore, and diverting myself now and then finding a smoother pebble or a prettier shell than ordinary, whilst the great ocean of truth lay all undiscovered before me

Though methinks that experimental confirmation of the existence of the Higgs Boson will prove to be the discovery of a very large, very smooth pebble or a particularly big and beautiful shell...

...but that great uncharted ocean is still out there

[Posts: 728Joined: 09 Jan 2011, 14:48]

(Frankel + Camelot + Black Caviar + Sea The Stars)*10,000 still does not equal the excitement of the Higgs boson announcement.

Yet the re-emergence of Sprinter Sacre surpasses it

http://vimeo.com/41038445

As far as I can make out, the parameters of scientific understanding have increased exponentially.

[Posts: 4493Joined: 03 Sep 2007, 22:56Location: Milton Keynes]

Most interesting and I do hope the discovery is confirmed as this is genuine Life, The Universe and Everything stuff

Though as Stephen Hawking has pointedly remarked 'it would be more interesting if they didn't find it'

Try as I might to conquer Particle Physics, Quantum Mechanics, String Theory and Relativity they all continue to baffle, which is why it fascinates so much

Isaac Newton's famous words seem apt:

I was like a boy playing on the sea-shore, and diverting myself now and then finding a smoother pebble or a prettier shell than ordinary, whilst the great ocean of truth lay all undiscovered before me

Though methinks that experimental confirmation of the existence of the Higgs Boson will prove to be the discovery of a very large, very smooth pebble or a particularly big and beautiful shell...

...but that great uncharted ocean is still out there

May I recommend How To Teach Quantum Physics To Your Dog by Chad Orzel it's much better than Hawkings book - it's the book that helped open it up for me - he even explains it better than Brian Cox.

[Posts: 632Joined: 05 Jun 2012, 14:26]

I must admit that I'm rather frightened by the sight of this 'big machine'.

I had great amusement listening to two old wifies discussing the impending testing of the machine some time ago and one of them referred to it as the HARDON Collider.

[Posts: 3992Joined: 03 Feb 2006, 11:39Location: Sacramento,CA.]

I read the Wealth of Nations sixty years ago.That was as far as I got understanding the nature of the universe.Ugly little planet.Greedy little occupants.Seedy little lot.

[Posts: 5238Joined: 31 Aug 2007, 23:42Location: derby]

Just have to read Hitchikers Guide and carry a towel imo. At least that doesn't have such daft names; but then again......

[Posts: 1536Joined: 31 May 2004, 16:59Location: Warwick]

Though as Stephen Hawking has pointedly remarked 'it would be more interesting if they didn't find it'

I bet he bloody did - just said on the news that he had a $100 bet with one of the scientists that it wouldn't be found.

No concept of value that man.

Mike

[Posts: 4159Joined: 20 Jan 2006, 11:28Location: The Ainsty of York]

May I recommend How To Teach Quantum Physics To Your Dog by Chad Orzel it's much better than Hawkings book - it's the book that helped open it up for me - he even explains it better than Brian Cox.

Thank you Paul, not a book I was aware of. From 'A Brief History of Time' via numerous impenetrable Wikipedia articles to the recent brave attempt by Brian Cox to explain the Higgs Mechanism for dummies I am left with the inescapable feeling that it all may as well all have been young dogs trying to teach an old dog new tricks

Seriously, I've long felt that my grasping of a rudimentary if satisfactory and comfortable understanding of all things Universal and Sub-Atomic is but one great leap forward away, an almost tip-of-the-tongue experience; but yet at present it still remains shuffle forward, shuffle back

Annoying but intriguing

[Posts: 2267Joined: 08 Sep 2005, 16:22]

Of course once faster than light speed or time travel is discovered, racing and everything will be no more.

[Posts: 4159Joined: 20 Jan 2006, 11:28Location: The Ainsty of York]

Of course once faster than light speed or time travel is discovered, racing will be no more.

The race will finish before it has started

If I owned a horse it would be named Tachyon

You 'knew' Mr Bookmaker, now I 'know'