This week's episode of Veritasium ( a science YouTube channel) has really got me thinking. It was titled something about how the Higgs Boson doesn't really give you mass, and I got a little bit angry. I had watched something like 20 minutes worth of videos on the Higgs and as far as I knew, it gave everything mass and was the reason every single thing doesn't forever fly around at the speed of light. But, I knew that the guy who makes Veritasium is quite intelligent, so I clicked the video and decided to hear him out. Turns out that the Higgs field only really has any effect on extremely small particles, like electrons. The rest of your weight and the weight of everything else is in the nucleus. Inside of Protons and Neutrons (Which make up the Nucleus) are Quarks, and they are really what gives you mass. Quarks are basically 3 (or so we thought) particles that are connected. What's weird is that the mass of each of the particles is only a small fraction of the total mass. What really gives you mass is the energy it takes to hold them together! So when you step on the scale, what you read is mostly caused by the weight of the energy used to hold together the particles that make up the nuclei of the atoms that make up the molecules that make up all of the different substances in your body. I'll attach the video below, but for those without a mild understanding of atomic and subatomic particles, I think it might get a little painful.
Dave
5/12/2013 11:47:57 am
Higgs Boson gives all particles mass but like Mr. Miller was saying atoms are mostly empty.
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Chris
5/16/2013 09:03:45 am
Yes, and it turns out that the empty space has more mass than the particles themselves!
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DLP
5/16/2013 05:57:22 am
Quite interesting!
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AuthorChris R Archives
October 2013
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