dreamer_easy: (Default)
dreamer_easy ([personal profile] dreamer_easy) wrote2012-07-03 03:01 pm

Oh, so that's how that works!

"... forces [such as magnetism] which we think of as being due to fields are actually transmitted between objects by the exchange of particles. The way particles transmit forces is a bit like a game of catch: if I throw a ball and you catch it, I will be pushed backwards by the act of throwing and you will be pushed backwards by the act of catching. Thus we act as if we repel each other."

- What is the Higgs boson and why does it matter?

[identity profile] pbristow.livejournal.com 2012-07-03 03:40 pm (UTC)(link)
So what kind of ball would we have to throw back and forth to create an attractive force? Air-kisses? =:o}

[identity profile] lonely-otter.livejournal.com 2012-07-04 06:10 am (UTC)(link)
I believe the Higgs boson is a particle that infuses space in such a way that all other subatomic particles must pass through the boson "cloud". According to the way any particular particles are constructed, they are attracted to the Higgs bosons--and are therefore slowed down-- to a greater or lesser degree. This "slowing down" defines the volume of their mass. The whole point is to answer the question of how it is that mass exists.

[identity profile] pbristow.livejournal.com 2012-07-09 03:39 pm (UTC)(link)
Yayyyy!!!! My favourite pre-20th and post-20th Century fictions collide. =:o>