Ace of Spades HQ

December 13, 2011

CERN: We're Close To Proving the Existence of God Particles
— Ace

No not those God particles

I think how this works is that we've determined that quarks impart electromagnetic properties to subatomic particles, but we're still up in the air about what gives them actual mass. The Higgs Boson is postulated to be a particle which adds all (?) of the mass to subatomic particles, but we've never seen it.

CERN's been hunting for it, using bigger and bigger guns to blow up atoms in order to search for smaller and smaller particles, as they say.

It was thought they might announce they'd found evidence of this postulated-but-never-evidenced particle, but they only said they'd narrowed down the hiding spots it could be lurking in.

The Higgs boson is thought to be tied to a field (the Higgs field) that is responsible for giving all other particles their mass. Ironically, physicists don't have a specific prediction for the mass ofthe Higgs boson itself, so they must search a wide range of possible masses for signs of the particle.
Based on data collected at LHC's CMS and ATLAS experiments, researchers said they are now able to narrow down the Higgs' mass to a small range, and exclude a wide swath of possibilities.
"With the data from this year we've ruled out a lot of masses, and now we're just left with this tiny window, in this region that is probably the most interesting," said Jonas Strandberg, a researcher at CERN working on the ATLAS experiment.
The researchers have now cornered the Higgs mass in the range between 114.4 and 131 gigaelectronvolts (GeV).For comparison, a proton weighs 1 GeV. Outside that range, the scientists are more than 95 percent confident that the Higgs cannot exist.

I thought I understood this, in broad strokes at least, but now don't even understand that. How can the Higgs boson be a building block of the proton if it weighs over 100 times as much as the thing it's a building block of?

I'm not sure what the practical engineering impact of the discovery of the particle would be, but a lot of science fiction technology relies upon direct manipulation of mass -- artificial gravity, for example, or some kind of warp-type drive, or, even better, maybe even some kind of direct mass-to-energy conversion.

Not a nuclear reaction; that's "indirect" in the way den Beste means direct here.

The fourth and last future source I can envision is direct conversion of mass to energy, and some of my younger readers may live to see it. With the work in cosmology going on now, they're getting near to actually having an explanation of exactly what mass truly is and how the interconversion of mass and energy actually happens. It's more complicated than just particles appearing and disappearing. The energy released by fission and fusion doesn't come from a change in the number of particles; rather, the hadrons are changing weight, and the energy release comes from that. The reason that fusing hydrogen into helium releases energy is that the protons and neutrons in helium weigh slightly less than the ones in protium and deuterium, and the excess mass is released as energy (which is why the Sun shines). We know that's true, but no one knows why. No one can explain why it is that the hadrons in iron weigh less than for any other element, so that below that fusion releases energy and above that fission does. Why iron, instead of cobalt or carbon or gold? Why isn't it a single slope curve, so that fusion of everything would release energy and fission would always consume it? No one knows.
Once the theoreticians actually figure that out, it may turn out that there are ways totally unsuspected by us now to convert mass into energy that don't involve elaborate silliness like plasmas and toroidal magnetic fields and fissionable materials. What I'm talking about is a theory at the level of subatomic physics as comprehensive and important as quantum mechanics was at the level of atoms.
Our nuclear technology now is about like 19th century chemistry: we have a lot of recipes but we don't really know why they work. It took quantum theory to tell the chemists what they actually were doing, and once they had it they began to produce miracles that made 19th century chemistry look lame. Quantum mechanics also taught us how to make field effect transistors to replace vacuum tubes; a completely different approach to the same result which was vastly smaller, far more reliable, and far more efficient, dropping size and power and manufacturing costs by something like 10 orders of magnitude. Once the nuclear engineers have an equivalent theory and actually know what they're doing, they will almost certainly make all existing nuclear technology totally obsolete, and they may well figure out a straightforward way to produce energy directly from any mass. For example, it might become possible to create a system which took ordinary hydrogen, crashed the electrons into the protons to produce neutrons, and then annihilated the neutrons to produce quite large amounts of energy leaving behind only an ash of neutrinos (or antineutrinos; I can never remember which). Or it might turn out that there's an easy way to directly convert matter into antimatter, which is then a twofer in terms of energy production.

Or of course we could build a planet-busting bomb, as den Beste notes.

Michael Crichton always made this point, as does, I think, Freeman Dyson: Why are you proposing we spend trillions to combat Global Warming, which is not proven to exist and furthermore, even assuming it does exist, might be entirely irrelevant in 40 years?

Crichton always pointed out that no one in 1900 would have foreseen on-the-hour air transportation in just 40 years. (Well science fiction writers did but who took them seriously? No one, that's who.)

Explanation: So what I'm hearing from my Informant on the Street, Dr. Steven Huggy-Bear Hawking, is that it's not actually the Higgs boson which creates/imparts mass, but the Higgs field, and that the Higgs boson would just be confirmation of the Higgs field.

Plus, once we find the particle itself, we could blow it up.

The name Higgs refers to at least four things. First of all, there is a Higgs mechanism, which is ultimately responsible for elementary particlesÂ’ masses. This is certainly one of the trickier aspects of particle physics to explain, but essentially something like a charge Â— not an electric charge Â— permeates the vacuum, the state with no particles.
These Â“chargesÂ” are associated with a Higgs field. As particles pass through this field they interact with the Â“charges,Â” and this interaction makes them act as if they had mass. Heavier particles do so more, and lighter particles do so less. The Higgs mechanism is essential to the masses of elementary particles.
The Higgs particle, or Higgs boson, is the vestige of the simplest proposed model of what created the Higgs field in the first place. Contrary to popular understanding, the Higgs field gives mass Â— not the Higgs boson. But a discovery of the Higgs boson would tell us that the Higgs mechanism is right and help us pin down the theory that underlies both the Higgs mechanism and the Standard Model.

Thanks to RD for that. Tall Dave also tried to explain, but he got obsessed with soup and then left, presumably to have some soup.

Posted by: Ace at 07:25 AM | Comments (261)
Post contains 1255 words, total size 8 kb.

God, I hope a time traveler shuts this down before they kill us all.

Posted by: Ben at December 13, 2011 07:29 AM (wuv1c)

2 So, let's put this all in terms we can understand.

Is the Mayan Apocalypse going to be caused by misuse of the God particle, and indeed, will the death of the planet stave off a second term for Obama?

Posted by: shibumi at December 13, 2011 07:29 AM (z63Tr)

3
I have a bad feeling about this.

Posted by: indiana soothsayer solo at December 13, 2011 07:30 AM (sqkOB)

"I thought I understood this, in broad strokes at least, but now don't even understand that. How can the Higgs boson be a building block of the proton if it weighs over 100 times as much as the thing it's a building block of?"

E=mc^2. The excess mass is converted to binding energy when the particles bind to form protons.

I knew that physics degree would pay off eventually.

Posted by: Abraham at December 13, 2011 07:31 AM (cRPbf)

5 Jesus, what the hell has quantum physics done for anyone lately?

Posted by: vinman at December 13, 2011 07:31 AM (nEvyg)

6 What can I say, I like screwing with physicists.

Posted by: God at December 13, 2011 07:31 AM (GBXon)

7 Newt could explain this to you.

Posted by: blaster at December 13, 2011 07:32 AM (7vSU0)

8 Is the Mayan Apocalypse going to be caused by misuse of the God particle, and indeed, will the death of the planet stave off a second term for Obama?

Naaaah.... Obama will run against God in heaven for.......

...... heaven..... heaven???? nevermind.

Posted by: fixerupper at December 13, 2011 07:32 AM (C8hzL)

9 Barack Obama is a stuttering clusterf*ck of a miserable failure.

Posted by: AllenG (Dedicated Tenther) says 'No' to RINO Romney at December 13, 2011 07:32 AM (8y9MW)

[I'm not sure what the practical engineering impact of the discovery of the particle would be]

Knowledge for its own sake is, of course, worthless.

Posted by: Bat Chain Puller at December 13, 2011 07:32 AM (SCcgT)

11 @1, I just hope it's not the one from "Plan 9".

I've had enough of this tempting fate in 2012, drought, floods, fire, global debt issues, scomf....etc. How much more can we take? Maybe a God Particle is something that should be considered verboten.

Posted by: auscolpyr at December 13, 2011 07:33 AM (+KmL5)

12 It's always at the last place you look.

Posted by: TomH at December 13, 2011 07:34 AM (wOrAR)

Maybe a God Particle is something that should be considered verboten.

I've been telling you that for a loooooooooong time.

Posted by: God at December 13, 2011 07:34 AM (sbV1u)

14 Knowledge for its own sake is, of course, worthless.

The deuce you say!!!

Posted by: OWS - Majoring in Pre-Mesopotamian Wymyns Studies at December 13, 2011 07:34 AM (C8hzL)

15 >>> E=mc^2. The excess mass is converted to binding energy when the particles bind to form protons. so most of this mass really exists as energy in binding force?

Posted by: ace at December 13, 2011 07:34 AM (nj1bB)

16 Also, keep watching Star Trek if you want to know what's coming down the pike. Transparent aluminum anyone?

Posted by: blaster at December 13, 2011 07:34 AM (7vSU0)

17 There be whales here! And no I don't mean me and Uhura.

Posted by: Scotty at December 13, 2011 07:35 AM (nj1bB)

18

Here's the CERN live webcam for anybody who is interested

Posted by: dan-O at December 13, 2011 07:35 AM (sWycd)

19 Just send out a neutrino wave from the deflector, duh.

Posted by: dagny at December 13, 2011 07:35 AM (ZDAyk)

20 Honestly I am just kinda sick of the "God Particle" stuff. There is no such thing as a "God Particle". To call it such only reveals the hubris of these elite scientists.

And this is coming from a guy who isn't religious.

Posted by: chemjeff at December 13, 2011 07:35 AM (qVUxp)

21 How can the Higgs boson be a building block of the proton if it weighs over 100 times as much as the thing it's a building block of

Because it's not a building block in the sense of, say, quarks to protons or atoms to molecules. The nonzero vacuum state of the Higgs field is what gives particle mass. Think of it more as being the soup through which other particles move.

"The Higgs boson particle is the quantum of the theoretical Higgs field. In empty space, the Higgs field has an amplitude different from zero; i.e. a non-zero vacuum expectation value. The existence of this non-zero vacuum expectation plays a fundamental role; it gives mass to every elementary particle that couples to the Higgs field, including the Higgs boson itself. "

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Higgs_boson#Theoretical_overview

Posted by: TallDave at December 13, 2011 07:35 AM (/s1LA)

22 How can this be? I thought Obama was the Messiah? He is the "God particle". Just ask him ......................

Posted by: Wall-E at December 13, 2011 07:36 AM (48wze)

23 It's about time they got to work on a planet buster. I feel really vulnerable after learning that we decommissioned all the 10 megaton toys.

Posted by: Bob Saget at December 13, 2011 07:36 AM (SDkq3)

so most of this mass really exists as energy in binding force?

Pure energy

Posted by: Mr. Spock at December 13, 2011 07:36 AM (sbV1u)

25 I wonder how the authors of long-ago-written religious tracts (Torah, Bible, Bagavad Gita, Koran, etc.) would react to this stuff. At least calling it the God particle doesn't get Christians up in arms with death threats because you know if they called it the Allah particle, there'd be some blood shed.

Posted by: SFGoth at December 13, 2011 07:36 AM (dZ756)

26

Tish tosh. The Luminiferous Aether was good enough for my Grand-pappy, and it's good enough for me.

Posted by: Laurie David's Cervix at December 13, 2011 07:36 AM (3wBRE)

27 Have we found a dead scientist with his eyeball ripped out?

Posted by: Vic at December 13, 2011 07:37 AM (YdQQY)

28 I find Crichton's argument weirdly negative.

Posted by: tasker at December 13, 2011 07:37 AM (r2PLg)

29 Tall Dave, Lost me, but thanks. I guess I'll just have to accept that it's a "thing" which "does stuff."

Posted by: Scotty at December 13, 2011 07:37 AM (nj1bB)

30 I'm not sure what the practical engineering impact of the discovery of the particle would be ...

50% less chaffing?

Posted by: weft cut-loop at December 13, 2011 07:38 AM (mIucK)

31 Have we found a dead scientist with his eyeball ripped out?

Only in Tehran.

Posted by: OWS - Majoring in Pre-Mesopotamian Wymyns Studies at December 13, 2011 07:38 AM (C8hzL)

32 Honestly I am just kinda sick of the "God Particle" stuff. There is no such thing as a "God Particle". To call it such only reveals the hubris of these elite scientists.
And this is coming from a guy who isn't religious.
Posted by: chemjeff at December 13, 2011 11:35 AM (qVUxp)

The funny thing is, I think most serious scientists (and especially those involved in the actual research) don't call it the "God Particle".

They call if freaking Higgs boson.

The "God Particle" stuff is from the science groupies who don't actually know the science but think that these futuristic discoveries somehow validate their empty lives. (Just check out the slashdot comments to see what I am talking about.)

Posted by: dan-O at December 13, 2011 07:38 AM (sWycd)

Honestly I am just kinda sick of the "God Particle" stuff. There is no such thing as a "God Particle". To call it such only reveals the hubris of these elite scientists

Oh I dunno chemjeff, I think the more physics closes in on these answers, the closer they get to proving God exists.

Interesting philosophical debate if nothing else.

Posted by: Sean Bannion at December 13, 2011 07:38 AM (sbV1u)

34 argg....... epic sock management fail....

Posted by: OWS - Majofixerupperring in Pre-Mesopotamian Wymyns Studies at December 13, 2011 07:38 AM (C8hzL)

35 How long before Obama takes the credit through his policies???....One...Two...Three..... And now the the President of the United States to make an important annouoncement on his own awesomeness.........

Posted by: Wall-E at December 13, 2011 07:39 AM (48wze)

36 .......hangs head in shame

Posted by: fixerupper at December 13, 2011 07:39 AM (C8hzL)

37 Why are you proposing we spend trillions to combat a problem which is not proven to exist and furthermore, even assuming it does exist, might be entirely irrelevant in 40 years? Because I have all of my old oil money invested in it, dumbass.

Posted by: Al Gore at December 13, 2011 07:39 AM (7vSU0)

>>Why are you proposing we spend trillions to combat a problem which is not proven to exist and furthermore, even assuming it does exist, might be entirely irrelevant in 40 years?

Yeah, but don't we find it to be irrelevant after we spend the trillions of dollars?

That is to say, it's not simply the 40 years time which gives you the knowledge, it's the actual experimenting and study which does it.

Like the chemists of the early 1900s. We didn't increase our information on the details of chemistry simply by doing nothing and letting time pass. We learned that information through decades of research and experimentation.

Posted by: Ben at December 13, 2011 07:40 AM (wuv1c)

39 If I am a Aethiest is it the God Particle ????

Posted by: Wall-E at December 13, 2011 07:40 AM (48wze)

40 >>>The "God Particle" stuff is from the science groupies who don't actually know the science but think that these futuristic discoveries somehow validate their empty lives. ah so it's like a media hype term. like when Chaos!!! explained everything.

Posted by: ace at December 13, 2011 07:40 AM (nj1bB)

41 From the linked article: "I think we are getting very close," said one of the people whose livelihood depends on the project.

I may have corrected that last part for them a little.

Posted by: Andy at December 13, 2011 07:40 AM (5Rurq)

If I am a Aethiest is it the God Particle ????

No. For you, it would be the "Red Bull particle."

Posted by: Sean Bannion at December 13, 2011 07:40 AM (sbV1u)

43 Crichton is basically making an argument based on the unknown-of what might be irrelevant in 40 years? ***** Above my pay grade.

Posted by: tasker at December 13, 2011 07:41 AM (r2PLg)

44 And this will power a flying car when?

Posted by: Dang at December 13, 2011 07:41 AM (BbX1b)

45 Neutron?

yeah, that was mine

Posted by: N. Gingrich - sooper genius at December 13, 2011 07:42 AM (Zw/H7)

46
Didn't Kirk stop Malcolm McDowell from doing this?

Posted by: indiana soothsayer solo at December 13, 2011 07:42 AM (sqkOB)

47 Posted by: TallDave at December 13, 2011 11:35 AM (/s1LA)

In English, please.

And, as I understand it, they call it the "God Particle" specifically to cast aspersions on Theists of all stripes. Basically saying that, if they can understand this, they don't "need God" to explain anything.

Of course I still say two things: "How does 'nothing' blow up?" and "No, no, no. You get your own dirt."

Posted by: AllenG (Dedicated Tenther) says 'No' to RINO Romney at December 13, 2011 07:42 AM (8y9MW)

How can the Higgs boson be a building block of the proton if it weighs over 100 times as much as the thing it's a building block of?

Well, it would be because the overall proton has less interaction with the Higgs Field than the boson would by itself, or perhaps the proton has higher mass because it has extremely lower energy values than a higgs boson. Maybe.

You're thinking of weight conventionally, and seeing it must be the sum of the parts. This is quantum territory. Shit is crazy. Recall we are talking about the mechanism by which weight is created.

Posted by: Entropy, and if you don't agree you hate America and want Obama to win at December 13, 2011 07:43 AM (UmXRO)

49 They have renamed the particle. It is now called the Tebow particle.

Posted by: Guy Mohawk at December 13, 2011 07:43 AM (JYheX)

50 wall-E, I put up a picture of Obama, thanks.

Posted by: ace at December 13, 2011 07:43 AM (nj1bB)

51 This is pretty neat. And don't worry about this motherfucker blowing anything up. It's just a cool addition to the subatomic zoo.

Posted by: Truman North at December 13, 2011 07:43 AM (I2LwF)

52 Screw all this gay science stuff. Just call me when you've invented the Mr. Fusion so I can bolt it to my F-150, go back in time and bang Lea Thompson circa Red Dawn.

Posted by: Empire of Jeff at December 13, 2011 07:44 AM (l9zgN)

53 49 They have renamed the particle. It is now called the Tebow particle.

Posted by: Guy Mohawk at December 13, 2011 11:43 AM (JYheX)

There's your THREAD WINNER right there

Posted by: Truman North at December 13, 2011 07:44 AM (I2LwF)

54 Time is the fire in which we burn. Whatever that means.

Posted by: Malcolm MacDowell at December 13, 2011 07:44 AM (nj1bB)

And, as I understand it, they call it the "God Particle"

Partially, yes. They do that.

Also though, because it is the particle they theorize is responsible for the existance of matter. It's what makes energy pokeable.

Posted by: Entropy, and if you don't agree you hate America and want Obama to win at December 13, 2011 07:44 AM (UmXRO)

56 "How can the Higgs boson be a building block of the proton if it weighs over 100 times as much as the thing it's a building block of?" 1) It isn't the building block of a proton, its a boson. 2) Its large mass just means it flits in and out of existence very quickly due to the uncertainty principle. 3) The mass is only a problem for "real higgs bosons" not for "virtual higgs bosons." In order to show that the virtual ones exist we have to find real ones, and their high mass is (partially) what makes them so hard to find.

Posted by: Texan Economist at December 13, 2011 07:45 AM (TC/9F)

57 >>>Crichton is basically making an argument based on the unknown-of what might be irrelevant in 40 years? No I guess I didn't convey that properly. He means that GLOBAL WARMING might just be irrelevant because we've got Higgs Boson Direct Mass to Energy generators.

Posted by: Malcolm MacDowell at December 13, 2011 07:45 AM (nj1bB)

58 Now we need a way to subtract some Higgs bosons from our bodies. That way, we could weigh less without all that starving and sweating.

Posted by: Truman North at December 13, 2011 07:45 AM (I2LwF)

59 Why are you proposing we spend trillions to combat a problem which is not proven to exist and furthermore, even assuming it does exist, might be entirely irrelevant in 40 years?

GAIA VULT!

Posted by: Some Gore-on at December 13, 2011 07:45 AM (7BU4a)

60 Wow, this is really fascinaalksklpjzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Posted by: Gristle Encased Head at December 13, 2011 07:45 AM (+lsX1)

Screw all this gay science stuff. Just call me when you've invented the Mr. Fusion so I can bolt it to my F-150, go back in time and bang Lea Thompson circa Red Dawn.

Good point.

I hope to travel back in time and bang Elizabeth Shue in her "Adventures in Babysitting" days.

EOJ, you are a true inspiration.

Science!

Posted by: Sean Bannion at December 13, 2011 07:46 AM (sbV1u)

62 The Higgs Boson added the mass to subatomic particles for your sins.

Posted by: Ben at December 13, 2011 07:46 AM (wuv1c)

63 Oh I see I left out the key words "global warming" in that part.

Posted by: ace at December 13, 2011 07:46 AM (nj1bB)

64 If I am a Aethiest is it the God Particle ???? Posted by: Wall-E

The Secular Zealot Particle of course.

Posted by: weft cut-loop at December 13, 2011 07:46 AM (mIucK)

65 LOL! Malcolm...

Posted by: tasker at December 13, 2011 07:46 AM (r2PLg)

66 Time travel sex? Kobe Tai in 1996.

Posted by: Truman North at December 13, 2011 07:46 AM (I2LwF)

67 Seen Elizabeth Shue lately? Not too darned shabby. You don't need a time machine, my friend.

Posted by: ace at December 13, 2011 07:46 AM (nj1bB)

68 As a Christian and a geek I get sick to death of faith and science being treated as mutually exclusive.

Science is HOW. Faith is WHY.

Posted by: Scott J at December 13, 2011 07:47 AM (KC2BE)

69 It's what makes energy pokeable.

Bob Dole thought Viagra was what made energy pokeable.

Posted by: Bob Dole at December 13, 2011 07:47 AM (8y9MW)

>>No I guess I didn't convey that properly. He means that GLOBAL WARMING might just be irrelevant because we've got Higgs Boson Direct Mass to Energy generators.

oohhhh. I get it. I thought you meant he was saying something else.

Posted by: Ben at December 13, 2011 07:47 AM (wuv1c)

71
My theory is that since they say they are moving the particle faster that light than that particle goes back in time, so they aren't seeing what they think they are seeing.

or something. Since I know nothing about physics.

Posted by: Guy Mohawk at December 13, 2011 07:47 AM (JYheX)

72 You're also naked with only one sock on...

Posted by: tasker at December 13, 2011 07:47 AM (r2PLg)

Seen Elizabeth Shue lately? Not too darned shabby. You don't need a time machine, my friend.

It's the suppleness factor, ace. I yearn to experience it as our forbears did.

Posted by: Sean Bannion at December 13, 2011 07:48 AM (sbV1u)

74 Science is HOW. Faith is WHY.

Science is WHAT. Faith is WHY and HOW.

Depending on how far down the stack of turtles you go, of course.

Posted by: AllenG (Dedicated Tenther) says 'No' to RINO Romney at December 13, 2011 07:48 AM (8y9MW)

75 Like the chemists of the early 1900s. We didn't increase our information on the details of chemistry simply by doing nothing and letting time pass. We learned that information through decades of research and experimentation.

True, but we didn't spend massive amounts of public funds for their experiments. If the Gore-ons want to "solve" global warming they are perfectly capable of using their own funds to do so.

Posted by: 18-1 at December 13, 2011 07:49 AM (7BU4a)

"The researchers have now cornered the Higgs mass in the range between 114.4 and 131 gigaelectronvolts (GeV)."

So, a mystery particle no one can find with huge mass...

Dark matter, anyone?

Posted by: apb at December 13, 2011 07:49 AM (Ljbw1)

77 I wonder how the authors of long-ago-written religious tracts (Torah, Bible, Bagavad Gita, Koran, etc.) would react to this stuff. At least calling it the God particle doesn't get Christians up in arms with death threats because you know if they called it the Allah particle, there'd be some blood shed.

Posted by: SFGoth at December 13, 2011 11:36 AM (dZ756)

"All I said was that this hallibut was good enough for Jehovah!"

Stone him!!!11!!

Posted by: Count de Monet at December 13, 2011 07:49 AM (4q5tP)

78 What the hell happened to my cat?

Posted by: Schrodinger at December 13, 2011 07:49 AM (yQwq5)

79 back in time and bang Lea Thompson circa Red Dawn

I'll go with. We can make it a double date. I'll pick Jennifer Grey.

Posted by: Scott J at December 13, 2011 07:49 AM (KC2BE)

80 First people bitching and moaning about our candidates or lack there off and now a physics test. G-D where did I put the Aleve?

Posted by: nevergiveup at December 13, 2011 07:50 AM (i6RpT)

81
Shue looked great in THE SAINT.

Posted by: indiana soothsayer solo at December 13, 2011 07:50 AM (sqkOB)

82 If I'm an Aesthetician is it still the God Particle?

Posted by: Jose Eber at December 13, 2011 07:50 AM (yQwq5)

83 What the hell happened to my cat?

What cat????

Posted by: The Box at December 13, 2011 07:50 AM (C8hzL)

84 G-D? Is this thread about Tebow?

Posted by: nevergiveup at December 13, 2011 07:51 AM (i6RpT)

85
Didn't Kevin Bacon feel up Elizabeth Shoo in The Invisble Perv?

Posted by: indiana soothsayer solo at December 13, 2011 07:51 AM (sqkOB)

so most of this mass really exists as energy in binding force?

Energy = mass. Mass = energy. Same thing.

The conversion rate, the exchange rate, is the speed of light x the speed of light. Fricken huge.

Matter is WAY MORE energy dense than energy. A very little bit of matter holds a hell of a lot of energy. It takes a lot of energy to make matter.

Posted by: Entropy, and if you don't agree you hate America and want Obama to win at December 13, 2011 07:51 AM (UmXRO)

87 Didn't Kevin Bacon feel up Elizabeth Shoo in The Invisble Perv? Posted by: indiana soothsayer solo at December 13, 2011 11:51 AM (sqkOB) I would have

Posted by: nevergiveup at December 13, 2011 07:51 AM (i6RpT)

88 If my calculations are correct, when this baby hits eighty-eight miles per hour... you're gonna see some serious shit.

Posted by: Doc Brown at December 13, 2011 07:52 AM (yQwq5)

89 This just in: Giuliani says Gingrich may be more electable than Romney. There was this Three Stooges where they showed up at a house and are confused as electricians - they hook up the electricity to the plumbing. Hilarity ensues. But there was a person of color who worked in the kitchen at this rich person's house, and this person says: "This house sho' done gone crazy." I am reminded of this.

Posted by: Al Gore at December 13, 2011 07:52 AM (7vSU0)

90 A field is an artificial construct in order to get around the problem of "action at a distance", which physicists hate. There is no evidence that fields physically exist, they are mathematical objects only. Indeed, some have constructed systems of physics based on action at a distance and from what I understand (I never looked at them very closely during my Physics/Math years), they are internally consistent and explain a wide variety of phenomena, including "lines of force".

Currently, there is no reason to chose a field model over an action at a distance model. Truth or objective reality have nothing to do with it. Physicists formally gave up on that concept with the declaration made at the Copenhagen Convention. That meeting was called to deal with wave/particle duality. Their conclusion was: Shut up, it works.

They will keep using this model until something simpler comes along.

Posted by: countrydoc at December 13, 2011 07:52 AM (jC5RD)

Screw all this gay science stuff. Just call me when you've invented the Mr. Fusion so I can bolt it to my F-150, go back in time and bang Lea Thompson circa Red Dawn.

Good point.

I hope to travel back in time and bang Elizabeth Shue in her "Adventures in Babysitting" days.

EOJ, you are a true inspiration.

Science!

Posted by: Sean Bannion at December 13, 2011 11:46 AM (sbV1u)

Very inspirational, EOJ and SB.

Tawny Kitaen in her writhing on the hood of a Jaguar days, right before Coverdale ruined her for all men.

Posted by: Count de Monet at December 13, 2011 07:52 AM (4q5tP)

92
So basically I should put another mattress on top to compensate for the boson and for my comfort.

Posted by: that princess with the pea at December 13, 2011 07:52 AM (JYheX)

93 15 Transparent aluminum anyone?
________

It's been done .

Posted by: Anachronda at December 13, 2011 07:52 AM (IrbU4)

94 Sock fail.

Posted by: blaster at December 13, 2011 07:53 AM (7vSU0)

95 I don't know shit about Higgs-Bosons all that shit came out after I got out of school and it really isn't pertinent to nuclear power anyway. But I do know about nuclear power. In fact I would say I am an expert in that area. I will say this:

Our operations in nuclear power are most certainly not "guesswork" or in any way comparable to the early days of chemistry.

Posted by: Vic at December 13, 2011 07:53 AM (YdQQY)

96 God particle....Tebow particle; whatever. Even Merrill Hoge has done a 180 on Tebow; tis the season for miracles!

Posted by: IC at December 13, 2011 07:54 AM (jZNCU)

97 The 1% have stolen our god particles!

Posted by: Debbie Wienerschnitzel Schultz at December 13, 2011 07:54 AM (Hx5uv)

98 Kelly LeBrock, Weird Science, pre-Seagal

Posted by: blaster at December 13, 2011 07:54 AM (7vSU0)

Tebow; tis the season for miracles!

It's now time for the feats of strength!

Posted by: Frank Costanza at December 13, 2011 07:56 AM (sbV1u)

100 Putting that photo up is cruel and unusual. Why does Ace hate us so

Also a PITA. I have to scroll quickly so as not to have the 'splain the HQ to any SCOAMF-lover who happens to glance at my screen.

Posted by: Scott J at December 13, 2011 07:56 AM (KC2BE)

101
I searched for that classic video of cern imploding, but I couldn't find it.

Posted by: Guy Mohawk at December 13, 2011 07:56 AM (JYheX)

102 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S1f6vbiuUt0

Posted by: blaster at December 13, 2011 07:57 AM (7vSU0)

103 Den Beste is one of the first "internet" writers I became aware of. Someone who's ideas and identity I became aware solely due to the internet, and not due to appearances in traditional media.

And Den Beste had basically institutional zero support from anybody. His ideas and posts are still being passed around a decade later just because he wrote so well and so clearly. There was no larger group, profit or non-profit, working to get his ideas out.

And Den Beste himself seems to not have had a personality capable of capitalizing on the niche he carved out. For whatever reason, he basically retreated from the public square to blog about anime (right about the time US interest in anime fell of a cliff).

My impression was that his ideas had gained enough fame and influence that leftists saw him as an enemy and went on the attack and he just didn't want to be in their line of fire. But who knows.

That's one thing I hate about the Left. It seems their first instinct is to go full Stalinist and try to ruin the personal and professional lives of their opponents. I'm glad InstaPundit has tenure, but I'm sure some lefties have made a run at him.

Posted by: Clubber Lang at December 13, 2011 07:58 AM (QcFbt)

104 Ace, what'll it take for you to pull down that picture of Barky from the post? Looking at it makes me ill.

Posted by: al-Cicero, Tea Party Jihadist at December 13, 2011 07:59 AM (yQwq5)

105 I added a necessary video.

Posted by: ace at December 13, 2011 07:59 AM (nj1bB)

106 One thing that may come from this is an answer to a fundamental question I used to ask in my younger years. "Why do matter and antimatter particles annihilate on collision?" Opposite charge, opposite spin...sure, sure. But they do not have "opposite mass". On collision this mass is converted to energy. Electron-positron collisions yield 3 gamma ray photons if I remember correctly. But why? Why is the mass suddenly anathema to the universe? Why is the solution complete energy conversion?

Posted by: countrydoc at December 13, 2011 08:00 AM (jC5RD)

107 You know what RD stands for? Raging dilettante.

Posted by: rdbrewer at December 13, 2011 08:00 AM (8R0uU)

108

E = MC² is like c = d $Ã°$

$Circumferance and diameter are directly related. 3.14159etcetc. is the ratio between them, observed consistently in nature.$

$C 2 is unimportant. It is arbitrary (well to make it work - not really totally arbitrary). The key is that energy and matter are the same, directly convertable and related, like a circumferance and a diameter.$

$E = M.$

$The rest is just accounting and math.$

Posted by: Entropy, and if you don't agree you hate America and want Obama to win at December 13, 2011 08:01 AM (UmXRO)

109 The Higgs particle, or Higgs boson, is the vestige of the simplest proposed model of what created the Higgs field in the first place. Contrary to popular understanding, the Higgs field gives mass Â— not the Higgs boson. But a discovery of the Higgs boson would tell us that the Higgs mechanism is right and help us pin down the theory that underlies both the Higgs mechanism and the Standard Model.

Okay, but how would they know they'd found the HB? I mean- they're not sure of any of it's properties (including its existence) so how will the know it if/when they find it? That may be a "narrow" window of masses, but it's still a window. So what if they find, say, 5 previously unknown particles in that range? Which, if any, is the HB?

Posted by: AllenG (Dedicated Tenther) says 'No' to RINO Romney at December 13, 2011 08:01 AM (8y9MW)

110

Why is the mass suddenly anathema to the universe? Why is the solution complete energy conversion?

All in due time, my son. All in due time.

Posted by: God at December 13, 2011 08:02 AM (sbV1u)

111 Â“For the scientist who has lived by his faith in the power of reason, the story ends like a bad dream. He has scaled the mountains of ignorance; he is about to conquer the highest peak; as he pulls himself over the final rock, he is greeted by a band of theologians who have been sitting there for centuries.Â” (God and the Astronomers, p. 116.)

Posted by: GW McLintock at December 13, 2011 08:02 AM (qwUGR)

112
Your faith offends me!

Â“He has the right constitutionally to do it,Â’Â’ said David Silverman, a Marblehead native who is president of American Atheists. Â“Having said that, itÂ’s inappropriate. People donÂ’t watch football to watch someone pray.Â’Â’

Posted by: indiana soothsayer solo at December 13, 2011 08:02 AM (sqkOB)

113 Does anyone else feel like singing "'Cause God Made It That Way?"

Posted by: AllenG (Dedicated Tenther) says 'No' to RINO Romney at December 13, 2011 08:02 AM (8y9MW)

114 I thought Obama was the Messiah? He is the "God particle".

Particle man, particle man
Doing the things a particle can
What's he like? It's not important
Particle man

Is he a dot, or is he a speck?
When he's underwater does he get wet?
Or does the water get him instead?
Nobody knows, Particle man

Posted by: pep at December 13, 2011 08:02 AM (YXmuI)

115 The Unified Force Theory should be our primary scientific focus. The God Particle should give some insight into it. Gravity and anti-gravity machines will follow.

Posted by: Adirondack Patriot at December 13, 2011 08:02 AM (iAUf+)

116 That's one thing I hate about the Left. It seems their first instinct is to go full Stalinist and try to ruin the personal and professional lives of their opponents. I'm glad InstaPundit has tenure, but I'm sure some lefties have made a run at him.

Posted by: Clubber Lang at December 13, 2011 11:58 AM (QcFbt)

I've always thought den Beste is awesome but if I recall he suffers from a painful illness. Still, he shows up every now and then in the comments at various places, says something hella smart, and disappears again. I think he likes it better that way.

Posted by: joncelli, too stressed by half at December 13, 2011 08:03 AM (RD7QR)

117

Â“Having said that, itÂ’s inappropriate. People donÂ’t watch football to watch someone pray.Â’Â’

No, but many people pray while watching football.

Posted by: Dan Snyder's Aggrieved Fan Base at December 13, 2011 08:03 AM (sbV1u)

118 Semi-O/T:

Hubris, it's for fucking dinner:

Two top U.S. hurricane forecasters, revered like rock stars in Deep South hurricane country, are quitting the practice because it doesnÂ’t work.

William Gray and Phil Klotzbach say a look back shows their past 20 years of forecasts had no value.

Posted by: weft cut-loop at December 13, 2011 08:04 AM (mIucK)

119 Obama is a stuttering clusterfuck of a miserable failure.

Posted by: Adirondack Patriot at December 13, 2011 08:04 AM (iAUf+)

120 The solution is easy. We don't need all these formulas. Obama is anti-matter (Socialism and Communism) and when matter (Conservatism and Capitalism) comes into contact they destroy each other. Thus Obama must be isolated and sent into deep space, light years away from the earth...........

Posted by: Wall-E at December 13, 2011 08:04 AM (48wze)

121

Is David Silverman an atheistic bigot?

Well, what if I said that two men being openly gay in public is inappropriate?

Same exact thing.

Posted by: indiana soothsayer solo at December 13, 2011 08:04 AM (sqkOB)

122 About 5 minutes after they discover this "particle" it will be mysteriously revealed that the evil industrialized society types are destroying it by an overuse of petroleum products as energy, or maybe energy drinks, or sugar....

Whatever is easier for the one-worlders to rig taxes, tariffs or better still a godpart market.

_{....cuz it's all our fault and we should pay.}

Posted by: ontherocks at December 13, 2011 08:04 AM (HBqDo)

123 Okay, but have those eggheads at CERN ever made a working lie detector out of coconuts and boat parts?

Posted by: The Professor at December 13, 2011 08:04 AM (yQwq5)

124 Okay, but how would they know they'd found the HB? I mean- they're not sure of any of it's properties (including its existence) so how will the know it if/when they find it? That may be a "narrow" window of masses, but it's still a window. So what if they find, say, 5 previously unknown particles in that range? Which, if any, is the HB?

Because of conservation of energy, they know that the Higgs boson must decay into particles that are heavy enough to carry off that energy. Thousands of miles of math later, they can determine the probability these decay products will show up. When they do, they confirm the Higgs. They know it's w/in a certain range.

Posted by: rdbrewer at December 13, 2011 08:06 AM (8R0uU)

125 Erin Gray in her Buck Rogers days...

Posted by: DaveinNC at December 13, 2011 08:06 AM (boNGU)

126 F**kin' bosons, how do THEY work?

Posted by: Insane clown joncelli at December 13, 2011 08:06 AM (RD7QR)

127 That's a picture of a Higgs Bozo, silly, not a Higgs Boson.

Posted by: Cricket at December 13, 2011 08:06 AM (DrC22)

128

But I do know about nuclear power. In fact I would say I am an expert in that area.

Why do you hate unmutated regular-size racist anti-asian monsters?

Posted by: Entropy, and if you don't agree you hate America and want Obama to win at December 13, 2011 08:06 AM (UmXRO)

129 But when you turn it upside down ...

Posted by: Honey Badger at December 13, 2011 08:06 AM (GvYeG)

130
Blair from Facts of Life.

Posted by: indiana soothsayer solo at December 13, 2011 08:06 AM (sqkOB)

131 126 Erin Gray in her Buck Rogers days...

Posted by: DaveinNC at December 13, 2011 12:06 PM (boNGU)

With the tight gold uniform. Zowie. Lots of adolescent fantasy in that memory.

Posted by: Insane clown joncelli at December 13, 2011 08:07 AM (RD7QR)

132 124 touche' ...

Posted by: Honey Badger at December 13, 2011 08:08 AM (GvYeG)

133 AllenG, read the last few paragraphs of that last link Ace provided.

Posted by: rdbrewer at December 13, 2011 08:08 AM (8R0uU)

134 Son , it's time for you to learn about tells .

Posted by: Randy Marsh at December 13, 2011 08:08 AM (npr0X)

135 I find the term "God Particle" highly offensive and disrespectful while at the same time extravagantly non-descriptive.

Posted by: maddogg at December 13, 2011 08:08 AM (OlN4e)

136

Obviously, PalinÂ’s particle is near picture perfect. One has to only imagine the pulsing power released when she sighs.

Palin for President.

Posted by: Humpback for Palin's Fupa at December 13, 2011 08:09 AM (Y84hE)

137 DEMOCRACY

HOW DOES IT WORK?

Posted by: GergS at December 13, 2011 08:10 AM (2okAn)

138 I was told there would be no physics on this blog.

/oblig

Posted by: Waterhouse at December 13, 2011 08:10 AM (dp+c+)

139 Don't worry, I got this shit.

http://preview.tinyurl.com/cnd42qx

Posted by: Gordon Freeman at December 13, 2011 08:10 AM (1+M82)

140

Why is the mass suddenly anathema to the universe? Why is the solution complete energy conversion?

The Unified Force Theory should be our primary scientific focus.

Personally, I've always wondered why seemingly every scientist assumes there must be 1 single unified force driving the universe.

Why do we assume these things must be unifiable at all?

Why not a universe that operates on 3 or 4 or 11 seperate fundemental forces?

What I suspect the answer is: Just because it's more complicated, it's there no sense complicating things when at this point, it's all still useless conjecture for now anyway.

Posted by: Entropy, and if you don't agree you hate America and want Obama to win at December 13, 2011 08:11 AM (UmXRO)

141 Lord won't you buy me a god particle?
My friends all have theories boring and dull.
Worked hard all my life time with tenure full.
So Lord won't you buy me a god particle?

Posted by: Janis Jooplin at December 13, 2011 08:11 AM (Hx5uv)

142 So now in Sunday School I'm going to tell my kids the baby in the mangers' name is Higgs-Boson. That should make me popular at church.

Posted by: Dick "I'm a Dick" Durbin at December 13, 2011 08:11 AM (oE1X3)

143

Fucking Tebow, how does he work?

Posted by: TheImmortalBear at December 13, 2011 08:12 AM (9eDbm)

144
speaking of Charles Shultz...

just noticed that Charlie Brown's D----o hasn't been around.

Posted by: indiana soothsayer solo at December 13, 2011 08:12 AM (sqkOB)

145 Ace blinded me with SCIENCE!

Posted by: Roy at December 13, 2011 08:12 AM (VndSC)

146

What worries me is.....are we puny humanoids really ready for this much power? .....That is, if they succeed in isolating this particle.

The potential for wiping ourselves out with this seems very large.

Posted by: wheatie.....aka ConservativeMenAreJustHotter at December 13, 2011 08:12 AM (HvKWW)

147 It's a cookbook!

Posted by: Michael Chambers at December 13, 2011 08:12 AM (yQwq5)

148

So by negating the Hibbs field we inhibit the expression of mass- hence gravity.

The heck with a flying car. I want my Antigravity boots.

Posted by: Cluebat from Exodar at December 13, 2011 08:13 AM (y67bA)

149 Higgs bosons cause Climate Change^TM

Posted by: Roy at December 13, 2011 08:13 AM (VndSC)

150

What worries me is.....are we puny humanoids really ready for this much power? .....That is, if they succeed in isolating this particle.

The potential for wiping ourselves out with this seems very large.

Don't worry. I'll guard this the way i guarded the stimulus money.

Posted by: Sheriff Joe at December 13, 2011 08:14 AM (Hx5uv)

151 Look, as long as we're building time machines, I call dibs on Nancy Allen circa 1980.

Posted by: Kensington at December 13, 2011 08:14 AM (Z7toi)

152

The potential for wiping ourselves out with this seems very large.

FTFY.

Posted by: Roy at December 13, 2011 08:14 AM (VndSC)

153 I have a headache from a "minor" head cold virus and this makes me dizzy to read, even without actual equations which would cause seizures.

If anyone else has had a recent "minor" head cold virus and survived, please tell me how to have energy again. I am convinced this is bird or swine flu or something sinister. Or not.

Posted by: ChristyBlinky at December 13, 2011 08:15 AM (baL2B)

154

Higgs-Boson. Pshaw!

To infinity and beyond!

Posted by: Buzz Lightyear, Space Command at December 13, 2011 08:16 AM (4q5tP)

155 _{Does this mean we might finally get to the bottom of what that substance on powdered donuts really is?
cuz that stuff is everywhere.}

Posted by: ontherocks at December 13, 2011 08:16 AM (HBqDo)

156 Linda Hamilton in T1.

She kinda ruined the fantasy with the anti-male rant in T2.

Posted by: Scott J at December 13, 2011 08:16 AM (KC2BE)

157 Full disclosure: I'm a professional high energy physicist. I've been doing this a long time, am an expert on the Higgs boson and related stuff, and know exactly what I'm talking about on this issue.

Despite what you read in the popular press, and even what some physicists say when they are not being careful, the Higgs is NOT responsible for being the source of all mass of other particles. That is a distortion of the truth.

The Higgs gives *most* of the mass to *some* other particles, specifically the electron, the top quark, the bottom quark, and the W and Z bosons, and a few others. For that reason, it is important to understand.

However, you and I and the matter we encounter in everyday life are made mostly of protons and neutrons, which are bound states of (mostly) up-quarks and down-quarks. Most of the mass of protons and neutrons comes, *not* from the Higgs, but from a well-understood and uncontroversial mechanism involving how the up-quarks and down-quarks are bound together in protons and neutrons, called "chiral symmetry breaking", a consequence of the strong nuclear force. This has been known for well over 30 years.

So the Higgs is *not* the source of most mass in the universe. (You may have heard that there is "dark matter", which is invisible and which we only partly understand; but whatever the dark matter is or isn't, most of the credible theories behind it also don't have it getting its mass from the Higgs.) The Higgs is also not a "building block" for other particles.

Lessons:
1) The name "God Particle", despite being coined by a Nobel prize winner (Leon Lederman), is a ridiculously misleading name. Every real physicist I know, with the possible exception of Lederman, cringes when they read it.
2) Don't believe what you read in the media.
3) Don't necessarily believe what Nobel prize winners say when they are trying to make something sound as exciting as possible.

But you knew that, right?

Posted by: Anna Nimity at December 13, 2011 08:16 AM (Ca/3y)

158 That Girl, Marlo Thomas.

Posted by: indiana soothsayer solo at December 13, 2011 08:18 AM (sqkOB)

159 My dear fellow have they tried reversing the polarity of the neutron flow?

Posted by: Dr Who at December 13, 2011 08:18 AM (Z7toi)

160 @147 Replace the the gremlin in this still (from a great Bugs Bunny cartoon) with a human scientist and I think this illustrates your point... http://tinyurl.com/7gz7d8b

Posted by: TheImmortalBear at December 13, 2011 08:18 AM (9eDbm)

161 God particle, shmod particle, I'm telling you, don't fuck with me.

Posted by: Zeus at December 13, 2011 08:19 AM (Hx5uv)

162 3) Don't necessarily believe what Nobel prize winners say when they are trying to make something sound as exciting as possible.

So all that Hope and Change stuff was a lie???

Posted by: Roy at December 13, 2011 08:19 AM (VndSC)

163

The Biggs Hoshun pod garticle. Thash amazing, jusht amazing.

**Thud**

Posted by: Drunk guy falling off barstool at December 13, 2011 08:20 AM (w41GQ)

164 Of course it's goin' to make it at least 100x heavier, Boss Hogg is big. If they were really looking for Boss Hogg, they'd start in Hazzard County. Dumb ass physicists.

Posted by: Daisy Duke - David Duke's Niece at December 13, 2011 08:20 AM (LLToD)

165 I do not beleive we will ever discover the "So Called God Particle'. For every new discovery there will another million questions unanswered. This discovery may be great and lead to new technologies, providing the government does not interfere, but probably not lead to human destruction.........

Posted by: Wall-E at December 13, 2011 08:20 AM (48wze)

166

Anna Nimity at December 13, 2011 12:16 PM

Ok. So antigravity boots are out of the question.

How about basketball shoes?

Posted by: Cluebat from Exodar at December 13, 2011 08:21 AM (BuYeH)

167 >>please tell me how to have energy again.
Posted by: ChristyBlinky at December 13, 2011 12:15 PM (baL2B)

Get yourself some 1000mg Taurine capsules. You can easily space out 6 grams a day to maintain energy and alertness with no side effects.

Posted by: ontherocks at December 13, 2011 08:21 AM (HBqDo)

168 Do God Particles exist? Ask Osama bin Laden if God Particles exist!

Posted by: Barack H. Obama, not getting it... at December 13, 2011 08:21 AM (JGnKE)

169 Why doesn't Tall Dave every grace us with his comments anymore?

Posted by: toby928© Perrykrishna with tattooed knuckles at December 13, 2011 08:21 AM (GTbGH)

170 "The G-D Particle" ? That's what I called an easy bra clasp in High School

Posted by: nevergiveup at December 13, 2011 08:21 AM (i6RpT)

171

A young and lightly despoiled Pamela Anderson in her Labatt's T-shirt, pre Playboy, pre-implants, pre Tommy Lee, pre-HepC days.

What! Someone needs to get her to take the other fork in life.

Posted by: Count de Monet at December 13, 2011 08:22 AM (4q5tP)

172 Pod garticles! They're everywhere!

Posted by: Drunk guy lying on the floor at December 13, 2011 08:22 AM (w41GQ)

173
I think I saw Tall Dave the other day.

Posted by: indiana soothsayer solo at December 13, 2011 08:23 AM (sqkOB)

174 "God Particles" and the "Tower of Babel" vaguely come to mind.......

Posted by: Wall-E at December 13, 2011 08:23 AM (48wze)

175 172, I have a "Playboy International Playmates" with a pic of her in that pre-trashed state.

Tried to sell it on eBay awhile back. No takers.

Posted by: Scott J at December 13, 2011 08:24 AM (KC2BE)

176
Diana Rigg in the '60's before she turned into a man.

Posted by: indiana soothsayer solo at December 13, 2011 08:24 AM (sqkOB)

177 Soup is good food.

Posted by: dfbaskwill at December 13, 2011 08:24 AM (dtJAz)

178

Posted by: Maggie Mcain's Feet at December 13, 2011 08:24 AM (NuPNl)

179 Speaking as a senior statesman and well-known avatar of the Great God Pan, I got your "god particles" right here, baby...

Posted by: Bill Clinton at December 13, 2011 08:25 AM (k4bdL)

180 You know what has mass? I do!

Posted by: Maggie Mcain's Feet at December 13, 2011 08:25 AM (NuPNl)

181 O/T: At least it was Canadian tax money wasted on this. But, really, they needed "a study" to prove it?

Posted by: AllenG (Dedicated Tenther) says 'No' to RINO Romney at December 13, 2011 08:25 AM (8y9MW)

182 Quark, Strangeness and Charm

Posted by: Clutch Cargo at December 13, 2011 08:26 AM (Qxdfp)

183

20th Century: 30 Seconds over Tokyo

21st Century: 1E-6 Seconds over Tehran

An you thought there wouldn't be any applications

Posted by: Advo at December 13, 2011 08:27 AM (7vbG1)

184 If you dig deep enough in the article, you'll discover strong evidence that this whole thing is actually orchestrated by the even more elusive TEBOW particle. It's all about ball handling.

Posted by: jwb7605 at December 13, 2011 08:27 AM (+KHIt)

185 Elisabeth Shue still looked pretty good in Piranha 3D. I hoped there would be a highly-energetic collision between her and Dina Meyer in that film, IYKWIMAITTYD, but Hollywood has just no imagination.

Posted by: Waterhouse at December 13, 2011 08:28 AM (dp+c+)

186 Off Topic:

Does Axelrod really want to start talking about monkeys...

Posted by: ina_ginalship at December 13, 2011 08:29 AM (sgCFi)

187 SCOAMF particles: elusive, invisible, and having no practical application

Posted by: Stu-22 at December 13, 2011 08:29 AM (k4bdL)

188 ...let alone their butt's.

Posted by: ina_ginalship at December 13, 2011 08:29 AM (sgCFi)

189
"The amount of data collected this year corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 5 inverse femtobarns (5/fb) in each experiment"

Whoo Hoo! USA! USA!

Posted by: Laurie David's Cervix at December 13, 2011 08:29 AM (3wBRE)

190

Missile defense is impossible and absurd.

Posted by: Entropy, and if you don't agree you hate America and want Obama to win at December 13, 2011 08:29 AM (UmXRO)

191 I read a book not too long ago with a ship in it. Had a boatswain (bosun) named Higgins. So that would be Bosun Higgins. I think I could find it - would that help?

Posted by: Roger at December 13, 2011 08:30 AM (tAwhy)

192 Was this whole post just an excuse to put up that absolutely ridiculous photo of Gay Barry up again?

Posted by: runninrebel at December 13, 2011 08:30 AM (QiZow)

193 God particle, shmod particle, I'm telling you, don't fuck with me.

Posted by: Zeus

There someone who comments here that would disagree.

Posted by: Adam Smith's Invisible Pimp Hand at December 13, 2011 08:31 AM (tKFT6)

194

If you dig deep enough in the article, you'll discover strong evidence that this whole thing is actually orchestrated by the even more elusive TEBOW particle. It's all about ball handling.

The Tebow particle is just a glorified Higgs Force Manager.

Posted by: Entropy, and if you don't agree you hate America and want Obama to win at December 13, 2011 08:31 AM (UmXRO)

195 The final F-22 Raptor fighter jet rolled off the assembly line during a ceremony at the Lockheed Martin aircraft plant at Dobbins Air Reserve Base. The product line is being replaced by the less costly F-35 Joint Strike Fighter as concerns arose in Washington that the $153 million F-22 was too costly and too high-tech for its own good. Sad Sad Sad day

Posted by: nevergiveup at December 13, 2011 08:32 AM (i6RpT)

196 But they do not have "opposite mass".

Don't be so sure about that. Antiparticles may repel particles rather than attract, in which case anti-protons would fall away from the Earth. It isn't considered likely, but it isn't out of the question. IIRC, a couple of groups have proposed experiments to get Nature's answer.

Posted by: Fred at December 13, 2011 08:32 AM (necEr)

197 I do hope we make some fundamental energy discoveries in the coming decades. I buy the MarginalRevolution hypothesis that the global financial crisis is, in many respects, due to technological stagnation. The incredible growth in cheap energy and new science and tech in the first half of the 20th century convinced everybody that that was the new normal. So we planned, and borrowed, as if we could expect the world to be massively richer and more advanced in 20-30 years. And that could have worked if we kept growing and making advances at that rate. But that didn't happen. We expected to be much richer in the future, in the same way people in 1950 were so much more advanced than people in 1920 or 1900. But we've hit a plateau. Last 30 years have given us, what? The internet and cellphones and video games. Which are nice. But pale in comparison to past advances like nuclear power, jet planes, etc, etc. Last new household appliance was the microwave -- which everybody'd had for 30 years now. The world borrowed based on projections of ever rising productivity. And that hasn't happened. And now our energy costs have been going up in the past decade.

Posted by: Clubber Lang at December 13, 2011 08:33 AM (QcFbt)

198 O/T: At least it was Canadian tax money wasted on this. But, really, they needed "a study" to prove it?

I'm unclear. Is this supposed to discourage drinking or encourage it?

Posted by: WalrusRex at December 13, 2011 08:33 AM (Hx5uv)

199 The final F-22 Raptor fighter jet rolled off the assembly line during a ceremony at the Lockheed Martin aircraft plant at Dobbins Air Reserve Base. The product line is being replaced by the less costly F-35 Joint Strike Fighter as concerns arose in Washington that the $153 million F-22 was too costly and too high-tech for its own good.

Sad Sad Sad day

And on the same day that Iran announces that it will close the Strait of Hormuz.

Posted by: WalrusRex at December 13, 2011 08:35 AM (Hx5uv)

200 I'm unclear. Is this supposed to discourage drinking or encourage it?

I'm not sure on that point, either. I just thought it was funny that someone funded "a study" which, no doubt, was an excuse for a bunch of college kids doing internships to go clubbing.

I mean, seriously, there was a question about whether or not getting drunk would correlate with having unprotected sex?

Posted by: AllenG (Dedicated Tenther) says 'No' to RINO Romney at December 13, 2011 08:35 AM (8y9MW)

201 OT: I'm getting a real laugh out of the MF Senate hearing. They keep talking about "speculating", with no one realizing that this whole situation is due to stupid and rampant speculation by the idiots who are discussing "speculating" [about what happened] right now.

This nation is so far through the looking glass ...

Posted by: really ... at December 13, 2011 08:35 AM (X3lox)

202

The heck with a flying car. I want my Antigravity boots.

Posted by: Cluebat from Exodar at December 13, 2011 12:13 PM (y67bA)

My first reading of that was as "Antigravity boobs." And I thought (considering the above references to actresses from the '70s) that those could come in quite useful.

Posted by: Have Blue at December 13, 2011 08:36 AM (IKTC8)

203 They keep talking about "speculating"

I love the idea that "speculating" is bad. Hey, morons: most of your donor buddies got rich on "speculating."

Heck, I make my living "speculating" that IT will continue to be a growth industry.

Posted by: AllenG (Dedicated Tenther) says 'No' to RINO Romney at December 13, 2011 08:37 AM (8y9MW)

204

Vaunted hurricane predictors throw in the towel!

The Ottawa Citizen.... hmmmm, wonder when we will read about this in the MSM? Well okay, you see these guys are in Denver, where it snows in winter, just like in Ottawa, so obviously it is of local interest only.

Wait... if the best hurricane weather scientists admit they cannot reliably predict the weather at a gross level even next year, why don't they just ask for some help from those Global Warming scientists who can predict it quite accurately dozens if not hundreds of years into the future?

Seriously, I am surprised that no high-profile foreign news service has started pitching itself to Americans as the way to get the news the MSM doesn't want to cover. Or has someone already done that? Sounds like a winner to me.

Posted by: sherlock at December 13, 2011 08:37 AM (BKPeM)

205 Knowledge for its own sake is, of course, worthless.

It is possible to synthesize excited bromide in an argon matrix. Yes, it's an excimer frozen in its excited state.

You might think "That's impossible!"

But it's not. It's a chemical laser but in solid, not gaseous, form. Put simply, it's like lasing a stick of dynamite. As soon as we apply a field, we couple to a state, it is radiatively coupled to the ground state. I figure we can extract at least ten to the twenty-first photons per cubic centimeter which will give one kilojoule per cubic centimeter at 600 nanometers, or, one megajoule per liter.

Posted by: Chris Knight at December 13, 2011 08:37 AM (gCa4h)

206

Maybe it disappears if it knows you're looking for it. Some hippie who really understood "quantum physics" and "Schrodinger's cat" tried to explain it to me but I can't accept a complete reversal of logic.

Posted by: bernverdnardo at December 13, 2011 08:37 AM (xXhWA)

207 I obtain mass the old fashioned way: fried food, pizza, and beer.

Posted by: OCBill at December 13, 2011 08:38 AM (YJvVE)

208

1) Aren't these the guys who advertised that they had found a particle breaking the faster-than-light cosmic speed limit? (Only to be proven sloppy in their analysis - it really wasn't happening).

2) I wonder if they guys who glommed onto the "God particle" idea even have the good sense to regret it - or whether their so full of themselves with their own God complexes that they are completely blind to having made a huge blunder with that. Intejecting that kind of nonsense into the subject takes away from the real subject at hand, and ultimately makes everybody involved look just plain stupid.

Posted by: Optimizer at December 13, 2011 08:38 AM (As94z)

209

Don't be so sure about that. Antiparticles may repel particles rather than attract, in which case anti-protons would fall away from the Earth. It isn't considered likely, but it isn't out of the question. IIRC, a couple of groups have proposed experiments to get Nature's answer.

No shit? Why not! They have antimatter sitting in nifty magentic force fields don't they? They do not know this?

BLOW THAT SHIT UP.

Posted by: Entropy, and if you don't agree you hate America and want Obama to win at December 13, 2011 08:39 AM (UmXRO)

210 Posted by: Chris Knight at December 13, 2011 12:37 PM (gCa4h)

Είναι όλα τα ελληνικά μου.

Posted by: AllenG (Dedicated Tenther) says 'No' to RINO Romney at December 13, 2011 08:39 AM (8y9MW)

211 i'm trying to figure out why there is a picture of a black hole at the top of this article when it's about particles...

Posted by: redc1c4 at December 13, 2011 08:39 AM (d1FhN)

212 I think its even more interesting if they don't find it. Mass/inertia/origins of gravity is the great unknown.

Posted by: Emperor of Icecream, Cultist for Jesus at December 13, 2011 08:41 AM (epBek)

213 But it's not. It's a chemical laser but in solid, not gaseous, form. Put simply, it's like lasing a stick of dynamite. As soon as we apply a field, we couple to a state, it is radiatively coupled to the ground state. I figure we can extract at least ten to the twenty-first photons per cubic centimeter which will give one kilojoule per cubic centimeter at 600 nanometers, or, one megajoule per liter.

This is true.
Once you get it to lase, turning it OFF is the hard part.

Posted by: jwb7605 at December 13, 2011 08:41 AM (+KHIt)

214

1) Aren't these the guys who advertised that they had found a particle breaking the faster-than-light cosmic speed limit? (Only to be proven sloppy in their analysis - it really wasn't happening).

No.

I don't even know if that was CERN, but lots of people work and do testing at CERN.

That Danish cloud expiriment that produced a few 'inconvienent results' took place at CERN too.

Posted by: Entropy, and if you don't agree you hate America and want Obama to win at December 13, 2011 08:42 AM (UmXRO)

215 Natasha Henstridge circa "Whole 9 Yards."

Posted by: Reactionary at December 13, 2011 08:43 AM (xUM1Q)

216 Posted by: AllenG (Dedicated Tenther) says 'No' to RINO Romney at December 13, 2011 12:37 PM (8y9MW)

True. But, what happened at the hearing was that one of the MFers said that he couldn't "speculate on the contents of a document I haven't seen" (or something like that) and then the Senators started asking the MFers to "speculate on how clients funds got comingled ..." with the MFers replying "I don't want to speculate on ..." and Jon Porcine finally saying something along the lines of "The proper place for speculating is ..." Talking about speculating about the happenings at MF. It was hysterical. I was surprised that no one busted out laughing. I was ROTFLMAO.

Posted by: really ... at December 13, 2011 08:44 AM (X3lox)

217 Hey, it's the insane clown posse!!! Morning wicked clowns.....hmmmm Calling alexthechick, pick up the white courtesy phone pls Now they need spiders in the video

Posted by: Navycopjoe at December 13, 2011 08:46 AM (nhsVr)

218 <i>This is true.
Once you get it to lase, turning it OFF is the hard part.</i>

Nah, it will destroy itself during the process.

As for uses, let the engineers figure that out. That's not our concern.

Posted by: Chris Knight at December 13, 2011 08:46 AM (gCa4h)

219

Because predicting the weather 100 years out is, unsuprisingly, much much easier than predicting it tommorow.

Posted by: Entropy, and if you don't agree you hate America and want Obama to win at December 13, 2011 08:46 AM (UmXRO)

220
209 said: "1) Aren't these the guys who advertised that they had found a particle breaking the faster-than-light cosmic speed limit? (Only to be proven sloppy in their analysis - it really wasn't happening)."

No, these aren't at all the same guys.

Analogy: "Christians? Aren't those the same guys who show up at military funerals with signs about how God hates fags and soldiers and America?"

Posted by: Anna Nimity at December 13, 2011 08:46 AM (Ca/3y)

221

It's like Heisenburg's Uncertainty Principle...

The less you know about what the weather is doing right now, the more you know about what it will do in 50 years.

Posted by: Entropy, and if you don't agree you hate America and want Obama to win at December 13, 2011 08:47 AM (UmXRO)

222 I'll use that time machine to woo Jessica Biel circa last Summer.

...

What? I heard she got a haircut recently.

Posted by: Kensington at December 13, 2011 08:47 AM (Z7toi)

223 218 Hey, it's the insane clown posse!!!
Morning wicked clowns.....hmmmm

No that's not us. Please.

Posted by: bernverdnardo at December 13, 2011 08:48 AM (xXhWA)

224 As a Christian and a geek I get sick to death of faith and science being treated as mutually exclusive. Science is HOW. Faith is WHY. Posted by: Scott J at December 13, 2011 11:47 AM LOL This incredibly complicated ancient universe, created in a way utterly different than the (2) Genesis story(/ies) in the Bible, is so God can properly judge us (and sentence us to eternal bliss or misery) on whether we've properly repented to the correct one of the multitude of possible gods after we put our extremely sensitive and distracting (possibly mutilated as a child) genitalia in the wrong kind of hole or in the right kind of hole under the wrong circumstances? Etc. OK then!

Posted by: Random at December 13, 2011 08:49 AM (YiE0S)

225 ICP? Really ace? I thought you had standards.

Posted by: red at December 13, 2011 08:49 AM (A+59T)

226 Adrienne Barbeau in the 70's. Heck yeah.

Posted by: Bosk at December 13, 2011 08:50 AM (n2K+4)

227 Jessica Alba

proving the existence of God

you're welcome

*video possibly NSFW (strip tease from Sin City) and the sheer density of hotness

Posted by: omg at December 13, 2011 08:50 AM (Zw/H7)

228

All you people talking about back in the 70's or 50's or whatever.

Can't you see the benefit of a Time Machine is sex right now, no matter what time it is?

Posted by: Entropy, and if you don't agree you hate America and want Obama to win at December 13, 2011 08:51 AM (UmXRO)

229 Somebody at FOX reads the comments at Ace?

They just used that bit above from "Particle Man" as bumper music going to the break.

Posted by: Have Blue at December 13, 2011 08:51 AM (IKTC8)

230 Someone above mentioned the F-22 stopping production today. Doesn't it actually work? Whereas the F-35 is running into all sorts of problems with its oxygen delivery, electronics, and even its fuselage?

Posted by: Random at December 13, 2011 08:53 AM (YiE0S)

231

Because predicting the weather 100 years out is, unsuprisingly, much much easier than predicting it tommorow.

Posted by: Entropy, and if you don't agree you hate America and want Obama to win at December 13, 2011 12:46 PM (UmXRO)

You know that that doesn't make any sense, at all. You meant "climate" for the 100 year side, since predicting the WEATHER tomorrow is clearly much easier than predicting it on a day 100 years from now. We have extensive information about the weather tomorrow. We have close to none for the "weather" on some day 100 years from now.

As to predicting climate 100 years from now, how would you know how easy or hard that might be? Seriously.

As to all these asinine, long-term climate predictions (opposite to what the historical climate record says is likely coming, specifically) coming out of meteorology, essentially ... Lorenz is spinning in his grave.

Posted by: really ... at December 13, 2011 08:55 AM (X3lox)

232 Doesn't it actually work? Whereas the F-35 is running into all sorts of problems with its oxygen delivery, electronics, and even its fuselage?

Posted by: Random at December 13, 2011 12:53 PM (YiE0S)

Since when has this administration cared about whether something works? Pretty irrelevant, really, to what is funded and what isn't.

Posted by: Reactionary at December 13, 2011 08:56 AM (xUM1Q)

233

we know Anna Nimity is a fake. There are no girls in physics!

Except Denise Richards, of course.

Posted by: imp at December 13, 2011 08:56 AM (UaxA0)

234

Any word on whether or not CERN has validated the existance of the Sarcasm Particle?

Posted by: Entropy, and if you don't agree you hate America and want Obama to win at December 13, 2011 08:58 AM (UmXRO)

235 AKA The Swift Boson.

Posted by: Entropy, and if you don't agree you hate America and want Obama to win at December 13, 2011 09:00 AM (UmXRO)

236

As to predicting climate 100 years from now, how would you know how easy or hard that might be? Seriously.

Easily. Very very easily.

You see, no one will be alive 100 years so there's hardly any accountability whatsoever.

People will still remember what you said tomorrow.

Posted by: Entropy, and if you don't agree you hate America and want Obama to win at December 13, 2011 09:01 AM (UmXRO)

237

OK then! Posted by: Random

someone never got past the chapter on metaphors in fifth grade.

Not only the fundies, but the fundie athiests, too.

It's quite possible that you don't believe in the same things I don't believe in, at least a little bit.

And I'm an orthodox Catholic.

Posted by: imp at December 13, 2011 09:03 AM (UaxA0)

238 Oh, goody. From the looks of things, Ann-Margret won't be heavily camped. Probably have good odds at getting Hedy Lamarr for my...engineering staff. (Hey, DarkLordCo, LLC is a small outfit, double duty and all.)

Posted by: DarkLord© for Prez! at December 13, 2011 09:05 AM (GBXon)

239 The heavens declare the glory of the Higgs Boson, and the firmament showeth His handiwork.

Glory be to the Higgs Boson, and to the Holy Fallout. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be. World without end. Amen.

Posted by: Mendez at December 13, 2011 09:06 AM (PMGbu)

240 232

As to predicting climate 100 years from now, how would you know how easy or hard that might be? Seriously.
Posted by: really ... at December 13, 2011 12:55 PM (X3lox)

I think what the author was getting at is that they can "predict" anything they like for the weather/climate a century out. Who's going to check?

Predicting the weather tomorrow a lot harder in that someone remembers and points out your errors.

Next year falls somewhere in between.

Posted by: Have Blue at December 13, 2011 09:11 AM (IKTC8)

241 I was thinking of using the time machine to pursue Gloria Grahame around the time she made "It's A Wonderful Life," but I'm not sure I can do it in black and white.

Plus, wouldn't I just freak everyone out when I show up in color?

Posted by: Kensington at December 13, 2011 09:20 AM (Z7toi)

242 Higgs bacon is my favorite thing and I MUST play that video for my youth group at church! Inspirational, MF, inspirational!

Posted by: Errol at December 13, 2011 09:21 AM (vewos)

243

I was thinking of using the time machine to pursue Gloria Grahame around the time she made "It's A Wonderful Life

I'm thinking Andy McDowell might not already 300 time stalkers...

Posted by: Entropy, and if you don't agree you hate America and want Obama to win at December 13, 2011 09:25 AM (UmXRO)

244 Maybe I can go back in time and make Megan Fox's mother stop drinking while she's pregnant.

Posted by: Entropy, and if you don't agree you hate America and want Obama to win at December 13, 2011 09:26 AM (UmXRO)

245 Question for Anna Nimity:

What about those antimatter harvesting schemes, where long electrified loops of wire are used like electromagnetic nets to grab antimatter that might have gotten caught in the magnetic field of the Earth or of Jupiter?

Could that work? Could it harvest antimatter in extremely large quantities? Could it power starships more practically and efficiently than Orion nuclear pulse engines?

Just wondering.

Posted by: Sticking Neck at December 13, 2011 09:27 AM (ecmD4)

246

Any word on whether or not CERN has validated the existence of the Sarcasm Particle?

Posted by: Entropy, and if you don't agree you hate America and want Obama to win at December 13, 2011 12:58 PM (UmXRO)

Yeah ... Pretty stupid on my part. The left has destroyed my sarcasm meter.

Posted by: really ... at December 13, 2011 09:38 AM (X3lox)

247 I was going to ask for a Higgs Boson for Christmas, but with all the other crap I have around here, I'd probably just lose it anyway.

Posted by: Merovign, Dark Lord of the Sith at December 13, 2011 10:40 AM (bxiXv)

248 Some of the comments here are just ridiculous! Quite some activity from people. It is exciting actually. Apart from the religious stuff which don't really bother me, I 'd love to understand your complex words and physics equations but I'm Greek and that's not what we 're learning in school.

(

Posted by: CockyBallsOfFire at December 13, 2011 10:54 AM (54OrK)

249 Man oh man, Ace, you REALLY should be more up on all this than this post suggests. You have to start with what's known as the Standard Model: a set of things we know we know (I know, I know: Rumsfeld Start Point 1; still, it's true.). The guy who shepherded together the Standard Model was/is an American theoretical physicist, Steven Weinberg, now a pretty old dude still working out of U of Texas at Austin. He shared a Nobel prize in physics with another American, Sheldon Glashow, who I think now works out of MIT or Brookhaven or at least somewhere in the northeast, and a guy from Britain but originally India named Salam (tho there's still some controversy over whether that third guy deserved recognition for the thing that was being recognized, the reconciliation of the electgro-magnetic force with the weak nuclear force, i.e. radioactivity or decay, into what's become known as the electro-weak force; some folks say it was more a 'lifetime achievement' thingee for the Brit-Indian), and Weinberg was able to do that once another team, also from the U.S., headed by an Israeli-born American named David Gross, along with the real brains of the effort, his then-student Frank Wilczek, were able to describe the strong nuclear force, also known as the asymptotic force (asymptotic because it's bosons bring subatomic particles together in close proximity but then at some point the closer they get the more they resist getting any closer - i.e. they start to repel). The Standard Model taken as a whole, once we consider the history of the universe we can see with space telescopes, almost all the way back in time to the Big Bang, seems to make it inevitable that the fundamental forces of the universe were all unified at some point, a.k.a. symmetry, whereupon something broke that symmetry, likely a collision or close-contact between two slightly different concentrations or "gauges" of near-vacuums, leading to the more-vacuumy gauge very quickly dumping a huge amount of its "vacuum energy" into the less-vacuumy gauge, causing a tremendously quick flow of energy across the less-vacummy gauge, or what is known as "initial expansion", and then with the forces thus rent asunder acting out on the expanding super-energized gauge to make and release the initial plasma from which all subatomic particles were made, leptons (particularly photons and their neutrinos making up light energy) and quarks (particles with mass, named by yet another American theoretical physicist, Murry Gell-Mann, after having worked out a decay regime he called the "Eight-Fold Way" in consultation with yet another American theoretical physicist, Richard Feynman, who came up with the "sum-overs" method of resolving the so-called "infinities problem" and "Feynman diagrams" to describe what happens when one subatomic particle interacts with another. After Gell-Mann came up with quarks, after the first quarks were found, a whole bunch of theoretical physicists, starting with American Phillip Anderson (Anderson, Feynman, Gell-Mann, Wilczek, Gross, all of them got Nobel prizes.), both in the U.S. and in Britain, started working out how mass could have got into this universe and came up with what we call the Higgs boson (after Peter Higgs, a Brit who's still alive, but actually he's only one of about 30 or so, mostly Americans, who came up with the idea of how to resolve this all at about the same time, in 1964), the term "boson" being named after the Indian physicists Bose who was a correspondent with Einstein who helped Bose' idea get published (yes, the same Bose after whom the line of electronics gadgets are now named). The idea is that mass doesn't just happen of it's own accord, it just doesn't accumulate and settle into observable form; rather, it needs to be escorted or mediated into the form, which is the part played by the Higgs boson, that is, a "force" particle, not a fundamental force in the sense of the original pre-Big Bank & pre-initial expansion "symmetry" that was torn apart by the initial gauge variance, but a secondary force particle that came about during the "plasma" period following the Big Bang and preceding the formation of the first stars. The surprising thing would have been if CERN had NOT found the Higgs - it will very likely finally "discover" the Higgs boson to a ~5 sigma resolution some time over the next year, but the two CERN experiments right now only have it at about ~3.5 sigma, which is still pretty impressive but not SO impressive as to constitute reliable, repeatable physics - because without a particle to mediate mass into the observable universe, the part we know, from the quantum mechanical level, which is too small for us to see, or to even detect except by the sorts of high-energy collisions which we've done before at Berkeley and Brookhaven and in the Tevatron at Fermilab near Chicago, we don't have any clue of how mass could possibly have formed that ALSO fits the things we know that are summarized in the Standard Model. Final shot: with all those American physicists I've named, you'd think this work would be happeing and this discovery of the Higgs boson would be about to take place in the U.S. Want to know why not? Because Newt Gingrich led the House into cancelling the Texas Supercollider in 1995, that's why. You can thank Newt Gingrich for taking away both the Texas Supercollider and the most powerful particle accelerator and the discovery of the Higgs boson away from the U.S. Does it have practical implications? You betcha: thousands and thousands, particularly in quantum computing, in photosynthetic production & in the production of new elements & compounds. If Newt wins the GOP nomination, and CERN finally resolves this discovery of the Higgs boson to ~5 sigma, just watch the Dems raise what Newt took away from the U.S. in 1995. And they'll be absolutely right.

Posted by: Rex the Wonder God at December 13, 2011 01:53 PM (vahvH)

250 Seen Elizabeth Shue lately? Not too darned shabby. You don't need a time machine, my friend.

Ace is absolutely correct - no time machine needed.

However, you guys want to be very careful messing with Elizabeth Shue - she can take care of herself. Go watch the beach scene in Cocktail where she slams Tom Cruise with a classic O Soto Gari Judo throw. It takes a lot of training, and practice to do that throw the way she did it.

That scene was completely ad lib; the script called for them to 'wrestle around' on the beach. Cruise was a high school wrestler, so he's not the easiest guy in the world to throw. The last thing he expected was what happened. If you watch her face in the scene you can see her getting pissed off at the way he is treating her then... splat.

Posted by: An Observation at December 13, 2011 02:34 PM (ylhEn)

251 we know Anna Nimity is a fake. There are no girls in physics!

Except Denise Richards, of course.

That's true - my sister is an astrophysicist.

Posted by: An Observation at December 13, 2011 02:38 PM (ylhEn)

252 No girls in physics? You mean Kelly McGillis in Top Gun wasn't a real astrophysicist? I Luv Kelly. Unfortunately after playing opposite Tom Cruise, she became gay.

Posted by: I Agree More With Pam at December 13, 2011 04:30 PM (iURW8)

253 BTW Allen, if they find that there's more than one form of the Higgs Boson (more than one Higgs Boson), they'll invent a new field with which the Higgs interacts that'll cause the particle to be able to exist in more than one state. That's how the game is played. Imagine if the Higgs Boson comes as a Trinity (three partcles of slighly different mass). God particle indeed!

Posted by: I Agree More With Pam at December 13, 2011 04:36 PM (iURW8)

254 President Obama's failures as a leader have been pretty massive. I believe he may be the Higgs Bozo.

Posted by: cackfinger at December 13, 2011 05:10 PM (a9mQu)

255 Our science is like bashing down a door to get into a room. Someday we will have the key.

Posted by: eman at December 13, 2011 05:37 PM (kEKwc)

256 The Sun uses quantum tunneling to fuse hydrogen at the observed rate. If quantum tunneling is excluded, the Sun fizzles.

Posted by: eman at December 13, 2011 05:39 PM (kEKwc)

257 "Once the theoreticians actually figure that out" LOL Those of you who are not scientists or engineers: the job of theoreticians is to pull math out of their asses to "model" something that was already observed or built. Theoreticians don't have the ability to build, construct, or engineer. They do, however, have very nice fingernails.

Posted by: Kozaburo at December 13, 2011 09:38 PM (q66W2)

258 Is this theory done without considering the gravitational mass of something like our star the sun?

Buckaroo Banzai went through the eighth dimension so I guess this question should be left to John Parker.

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