Higgs Boson Particle

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-17025708

This article outlines the plans for the LHC over the next few years in the search for the Higgs Boson paticle, which is suspected to exist in particles as the means through which they obtain their mass. They are planning to increase the energy in the collider that encourages collisions between sub atomic particles called protons as they believe that this will aid them in being able to confirm the existence of the Higgs particle that they claim to have already seen glimpes of. Researchers believe that confirming the existence of this particle will lead to the study of 'new physics'. The implications of the new particle would really be endless though; it might completely redefine every area of the scientific field. The structure of the atom as we know it would be modified and with this model acting as the basis of many fundamental scientific ideas, it will be interesting to see how this development affects all scientific knowledge. To better understand the article and the Higgs particle itself, there is a related story at the bottom of the article called "Q&A: The Higgs Boson" that provides an explanation of the Higgs Boson Particle.

Science is always advancing! It is absolutely mind blowing when a discovery has the potential for such a wide spread impact, as in this case. In the same respect, if the evidence does not support the theory, then the entire concept falls apart. With all the time and capital that is invested into research and experimentation, it is quite a leap of faith. Nonetheless, the search for the elusive Higgs Boson particle is fascinating, and could redefine the way in which scientists understand the universe. Presuming that the existence of the mass particle is confirmed, I am curious as to how this would affect school science curriculum, and how soon the changes would be implemented.

It is clear that this is one of the hottest topics in physics right now. Ask anyone about the LHC and they may know a thing or two about it, maybe even have some of their own opinions. As Belinda already mentioned, there has been a vast amount of time and money invested into this experiment. Some may feel that society as a whole has larger problems to worry about rather than what gives an object mass. I, on the other hand, think that these types of investigations are necessary and required for advancement and growth. A common everyday experience that thousands of people share worldwide is technology. Much of this technology is based fundamentally on the type of physics that this article deals with; particle physics. All of this hype over the LHC and the predicted Higgs boson has opened my eyes to the fact that a simple question has all of us stumped. What causes mass? Clearly, any provable answer has the potential to start a rush of new and interesting developments in the scientific community. Thinking deeper about the subject, mass has a twin nature. E=mc^2 comes to my mind and I ask, what is energy?

I definitely agree with Alex's opinion that it is not only interesting to be conducting experiments having to do with physics, but it is also necessary. Just like any advances made in the biological field of science are important in aiding human health, advances made in the field of physics can be very important to understanding the phenomena that occur around us everyday. Since every particle has some type of mass, literally every piece of the world as we know it could be affected in some way by this discovery. As Belinda brought up though, if the Higgs Boson particle's existence is not confirmed then the whole experiment may just be a waste of time and money. However, I do not believe that the scientific community would allow this extensive amount of research to continue if the experiment thus far did not produce convincing evidence of the particles existence. Therefore, I think people who are interested in the study of physics may have a reason to become excited in the future.

I've been hearing alot about this elusive Higgs boson and if I understand correctly this particle is the last particle physicists need to identify in order to completely verify the Standard Model of Particle physics, so as of late I've ben anticipating the discovery of this carrier of mass particle, but the LHC energy boost also aids the search for clues about dark matter. If anything was to be learned about dark matter, which I believe makes up quite a large percentage of this universe it would be greatly beneficial to the scientific community at large. Even though the Standard Model is great as it is I don't see why these physicists can't add the force carriers of gravity(gravitons) and the fundamental particles of dark matter and dark energy into the model, they haven't finished yet so, whats the hurry?, why not make a complete analysis of what makes up our universe. Anyway, I think the LHC has a deadline set regarding when they should have found the Higgs particle by, so, I hope they find it soon.

As a follow up to the first post on this discussion this is a link that leads to some more news regarding the physicist who proposed the existence of the Higgs Boson Particle

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife-17157326

I think that it is great that scientists who make such amazing contributions to the scientific community through their hard work and genuine interest in their research are being honoured in such prestigous manners. This not only motivates other scientists to work hard and take pride in what they do, but also gets the attention of people internationally and makes them realize how truly important contributions made by scientists like Professor Peter Higgs are to the world. This is truly putting physics on the map!