THE HIGGS BOSON
I have been asked several times "What does a Higgs weigh?" Here's my attempt to measure it in normal, everday terms.
HOW SCIENCE SEES IT - The Higgs Boson is thought to be the unit of energy in an approximately atom sized sphere of 70 trillionths of a meter.
The Higgs boson weighs about 115MeV/C2 to 125MeV/C2. In English, these are 115 million electron volts to 125 million electron volts each divided by 90 thousand trillion (the speed of light squared).
HOW COOKS SEE IT - In ordinary kitchen units, grams, each Higgs Boson weighs:
From 0.000,000,000,000,000,000,000,205,010,000 grams
Up to 0.000,000,000,000,000,000,000,222,830,000 grams
(about 2 thousand, billion, billionths of one gram)
...so not very large or heavy. In fact, very, very, very small. But the Higgs are about 134 times as large as protons (which are at the heart /nucleus of atoms alongside neutrons). All the “Higgs Bosons” in the entire universe link with each other to make “The Higgs Field”. A field has no parts so each Higgs Boson permeates the whole universe. Remember that a boson is in the super-light-weight photon and electron family. Remember that light (photons) and electricity (electrons) are of the same electro-magnetic spectrum, along with Infra-Red, X-Rays and Microwaves etc - all of which we amateurs refer to as LIGHT. Visible light (rainbows) is a small part of the whole spectrum.
IN ORDINARY MEASURES - Let's say to make some sugared donuts to eat weighing 125 grams (about 1/4lb, 4.5 ounces, of delicious, deep-fried and sugar coated carbo-hydrates) would need the equivalent weight of
560,965,758,650,092,000,000,000 Higgs Bosons. That's 561-Thousand-Billion-Billion Higgs Bosons will weigh the same as your plate of donuts. And, YES, the Higgs would be in there, making up the weight of the donuts. If it is confirmed to exist, The Higgs is in or around every atom.
WILL THE HIGGS FIELD SUFFER HEAT-DEATH?
HIGGS FOR KIDS - MORE HIGGS BOSONSHIGGS TO HOUSE-BRICKS
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