• Question: What is your view of the Higgs Boson and the work they have been doing at Cern?

    Asked by joe14 to Hannah, Ian, Jono, Mark on 26 Jun 2013.
    • Photo: Mark Hodson

      Mark Hodson answered on 26 Jun 2013:


      Hi joe14

      I have really mixed views on this. There are benefits to the work at Cern – simply learning more about our planet and the engineering developments that have come out of having to build the equipment. on the other hand they’ve spent a lot of money looking for this particle and at the end of the day, once they’ve found it they won’t be able to do much with it. Hard to know whether the money could have been better spent on feeding and clothing people.

    • Photo: Hannah Brotherton

      Hannah Brotherton answered on 26 Jun 2013:


      Hi joe14,
      First take a look at the diagram for the Higgs boson – this is the BEST and simplest way of describing it. ๐Ÿ˜€

      http://metro.co.uk/2012/07/04/higgs-boson-aka-the-god-particle-what-it-is-why-it-is-important-and-how-they-have-found-it-at-the-large-hadron-collider-lhc-490401/

      Because of this amazing ma, we now know why the universe has mass, This is important because without it, thereโ€™s no gravity and, without gravity, the roiling soup of particles that would never have come together to form planets – there would never have been a BIG BANG….

      So this God particles (great name) could tell us the origin of the universe and the meaning of life…..
      So in my view it’s one of the greatest discoveries of our time

      ๐Ÿ˜€

    • Photo: Ian Wilson

      Ian Wilson answered on 26 Jun 2013:


      Hi Joe,

      I think that the work being done to research the Higgs Boson is incredible! The particle itself could help us understand so much about the universe and the material that holds it all together. If we know more about the Higgs Boson and its effects on the universe, imagine how many more students’ questions will be answerable in 2053 lol!

      At Cern they’ve achieved something else pretty extraordinary. They’ve created a massive, international project where loads of countries are contributing and benefiting from the knowledge. This is exactly what science should be about – the human race should be working together to help our species survive and understand the universe around us. And what’s more, they’ve got non-scientists like yourself interested in really, really complicated physics! What’s not to love about what they’re doing?!

      Cheers,

      Ian

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