What the British physicist Peter
Higgs and several others showed is that if there exists an otherwise invisible
background field permeating all of space, then the particles that convey some
force like electromagnetism can interact with this field and effectively
encounter resistance to their motion and slow down, like a swimmer moving
through molasses.
So notes the New York Times when announcing the apparent discovery of
the Higgs Boson, a.k.a. "The God Particle" July 10. The discovery, at the Large Hadron Collider
near Geneva, may explain why matter exists, according to Professor Higgs and
others. I'm particularly keen on the
description "...invisible background field permeating all of
space..." Particles interacting
with this field find varying levels of resistance, thus creating 3-D material.
The handle "God Particle" presumes that the effect of the
Higgs Boson satisfies the need for a "Creator" or supreme
intelligence to create the Universe.
This discovery of an infinite
background (it would have to be infinite to permeate all of space) that is able
to manipulate energy (a.k.a. particles) sounds, to me, a lot like characteristics
of the dreaded "C" word:
Consciousness.
That will be the next quandary in the realm of quantum physics- the
selection and design of the assemblage of energy into matter.
For the moment, the ability to imagine such infinitesimal workings of
our Universe is awesome. It's boggling
at times to wrap the head around the "weirdness" of matter (which still comprises only 4 or 5% of
all that is.) This video does a great
job of simplifying for us regular folks the incredible adventures the LHC
physicists are engaged.
Exciting times to be alive!
No comments:
Post a Comment
Comments welcome. You know the etiquette.