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A physicist explains the ATLAS experiment on a board at the European Center for Nuclear Research, CERN, outside Geneva, Switzerland. The illustration shows what the long- presumed Higgs boson particle is thought to look like. (AP file photo)

Does the "God Particle" exist?

BY Chris Sullivan  on July 3, 2012 @ 4:37 am (Updated: 7:03 am - 7/4/12 )

To cheers and standing ovations, scientists at the world's biggest atom smasher claimed the discovery of a new subatomic particle Wednesday, calling it "consistent" with the long-sought Higgs boson _ popularly known as the "God particle" _ that helps explain what gives all matter in the universe size and shape.

"We have now found the missing cornerstone of particle physics," Rolf Heuer, director of the European Center for Nuclear Research (CERN), told scientists.

Higgs boson is something they have believed for decades must exist, but they have never been able to prove.

It's something that balances all of the physics equations. It is what scientists believe explains why some subatomic particles have mass and others don't. Now before your eyes glass over, just realize that proving its existence would validate everything we know about how the universe operates.

If it doesn't exist, University of Washington physics professor Gordon Watts told MyNorthwest.com, it's back to the drawing board.

"If in the standard model we don't have the Higgs, then everything is clearly wrong, like so wrong all the experiments that we've done or many of the experiments we've done, we would completely get it wrong," he said.

Professor Watts has been searching for the Higgs for 17 years. He's done research at the $10 billion super- collider in Geneva that was designed to prove it exists.

"If we didn't find it, it would be fascinating because there has to be something like the Higgs there. Otherwise, we're really wrong," Watts said. "So if there's not something like the Higgs there, that means that we have to completely re-imagine how it is that nature works."

So how will tonight's announcement impact your life?

Watts said the immediate impact will be minimal. "If we find the Higgs or don't find the Higgs, it will not have any immediate effect on your world," he said. "You won't suddenly dissolve into a mass of goo or something like that."

But discovering the Higgs, Watts believes, is just below Einstein's theory of relativity. It's that important to science and understanding how the universe works. He said the goal is to find ways to create the Higgs in a stable way so it can be used to benefit man, but he believes that is decades down the road. Proving the particle exists is just the first step.

Now for an explanation of what scientists believe the Higgs is, and my apologies to all the physicists reading this if my analogies don't do it justice. And don't judge Professor Watts by my understanding, he did a great job explaining it.

Chris' Higgs explanation:

The Higgs is a sub-atomic particle that joins together with other Higgs to create a Higgs Field. Think of the Higgs as a molecule of water and quantity of water to fill a glass as the Higgs Field. Quarks and electrons go in and out of this field. The more mass something has, the more it interacts with the water. A large person swimming moves more water than a streamlined fish.

If that's not doing it for you, try this one. The Higgs Field is a cocktail party. The quarks and electrons are the guests. The life of the party has more mass because it interacts with more of the party. The wallflower has less mass because it doesn't talk to anyone.

And if you want to know why it's called the "God Particle," you can thank the editor of a publishing company. When Nobel Prize winner Leon Lederman wrote a book about the Higgs, his editor didn't think putting Higgs in the title was sexy enough. It didn't grab enough attention, so the editor called it the "God Particle."

And Lederman has had to explain himself ever since.

Chris Sullivan, KIRO Radio Reporter
Chris loves the rush of covering breaking news and works hard to try to make sense of it all while telling stories about real people in extraordinary circumstances.
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Comments (17)


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  • NoiseMan wrote...
    There is a difference between "Faith" and "Facts"
    July 3, 2012 6:32 am
    As more facts are discovered and proven, those of faith will have to continually realign their sights to meet the needs of their individual faith. It's mindboggling in wha has been discovered in just the last 20 years. It's even more mindboggling to imagine what will be discovered in the next 20 years.
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  • FunkSavagely wrote...
    Faith is not based on "facts,"
    July 3, 2012 2:29 pm
    ... so why would one of faith have to "realign their sights?" Science quantifies how things work and with each discovery, more questions arise. Therefore, as science "progresses", the more we can extrapolate toward what we do not know. The "God Particle" is a cute term but its discovery does no more to our relationship with God than the discovery of the electron... or antimatter... or the quantity of dark matter... or the exact time of the Big Bang. I'm curious why you think its discovery would have any effect on those of us who have a relationship with God...
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  • Pichay wrote...
    Faith not based on facts
    April 22, 2013 8:49 pm
    Agreed!
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Pat McGrone wrote...
    People used to believe that life
    July 3, 2012 8:51 am
    was a miracle from God. Now we know it is just a chemical reaction of DNA and RNA.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • imanegro wrote...
    NoisyMan
    July 3, 2012 11:16 am
    Wrong-o, Buck-o. The more that is discovered (especially nano-technology) points more clearly than ever to a "creator" rather than chance as the origin of species. You can look it up- fascinating stuff. Think of it like this: You've never seen gravity, but you have seen enough evidence to believe it exists. A lot of people have the same perspective on God.
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  • SassMcGhee wrote...
    Reminds me of
    July 3, 2012 11:48 am
    Little kids trying to make sense of what their parents do and how they do it. You can keep trying but you won't ever know.
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  • NoiseMan wrote...
    I think it good that Iman is comfortable in his faith
    July 3, 2012 12:16 pm
    With every passing day, more and more facts are proven and thus more and more knowledge is available. That to me is the story.
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  • It's me! Ha ha! wrote...
    Who gave humans the ability to use science to give names to all this stuff?
    July 3, 2012 3:16 pm
    Yea, that's right!
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  • CH wrote...
    Who gave humans the ability to use science to give names to all this stuff? . . . .
    July 3, 2012 5:23 pm
    Obama!
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  • Hayduke wrote...
    Wow, Itsmehaha!
    July 3, 2012 9:31 pm
    In spite of your usually idiotic self, I believe you've stumbled upon a solution to the whole conflict between science and religious dogma!

    Indeed, why can't we just say that God created the ability in humans to use science, and be done with this silly argument once and for all? Believers can no longer feel threatened by science, and the guys with the shock of gray hair in white lab coats can go on their merry way, and we can all coexist at last.

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  • ron prevost wrote...
    Amazing.......... Use the word 'god' and everyone assumes it's a theological arguement.
    July 4, 2012 4:56 am
    Read the ARTICLE, people. "God Particle' is just the common (well, within the science community) name for a physics process by which all factors in the universe are united.

    Actually, though, if or because God exists, He is as much a part of 'everything' as everything else. So...............

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  • Hayduke wrote...
    yes and no, Bill
    July 4, 2012 1:34 pm
    And those scientists who are believers are obviously confident and secure enough in their belief that they understand that their study doesn't threaten their belief. The ones who are threatened by scientists tend not be be scientists.

    Now, I consider myself agnostic, not an atheist. That's because I'm just wise enough to know that I don't have all the answers, and that no one else does, either. And because I understand that there's thousands of religions, sects, cults, and belief systems on this planet, and that they can't all be right. So until a religion can provide me SCIENTIFIC and testable evidence to back up it's tenets, I'm not going to buy into any religion.

    But I do have to call you out on your charge that " Atheism is the most fundamentalist and irrational of all religions." Can you tell me, when was the last time an atheist shot someone or blew up a building, simply because of his beliefs? I'll put that number up against religion's any day.

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  • Hayduke wrote...
    I know I'm straying off topic, but here's a link for you who continue to chip away at the wall of separation:
    July 5, 2012 9:32 am
    http://www.addictinginfo.org/2012/07/04/the-founding-fathers-versus-the-christian-right-quotes-in-support-of-the-separation-of-church-and-state/
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