Higgs Boson/ God Particle

The Higgs Boson is a neat little particle. Like alot of these other particles of the standard model, maybe 250 of them - it is one of those particles that only occurs in a really big particle collision.

Part of what makes the Higgs Boson cool to talk about is that its involved with something we call 'the energy of the vaccuum'. Basically what happens in space is that we see this particle just pop out of nowhere. Ok, so measuring it is a big deal because when we look up at the sky we see stars, and we can guess their mass and when you add it up, there is alot of missing matter in the universe and this particle might hold the clue.

People have referred to this particle as the 'God Particle' because its involved in some pretty heavy interactions. Tipler calculated a specific mass for this particle, and predicted serious implications if its discovery was proven. Nobody's seen it yet.

This month we're going to find out if it does exist. The rest of this blog post is only for people who say they are superstitious. Analytics can stop right here.

Ok. Now here comes intrigue. The first time we were ever going to look at this particle - was in Vaxahatchie, Texas. The superconducting supercollider would've been looking at this particle almost as soon as it powered up. Big giant magnets and a huge underground tunnel ring later, the project was cancelled. Just like that.

Then, the CERN ring was supposed to power up and take a look at this thing. And along comes a bird, holding a piece of bread. The bird flew over one of the rings, and the bread drops from its talon and shuts down a major magnet in the ring, which shorts out and shuts down the entire collider for a year.

The question for the superstitious: if this particle truly holds a key to understanding God... would there be a vested interest in those from the future to stop us from finding it?