I have very briefly heard about something called the "God Particle? I wonder if it relates to the other question I asked about the bridge between the physical and spiritual worlds. Or is it just a fancy name for a type of subatomic particle? What does the average person need to know about this? Or do they?

asked 06 Dec '09, 11:23

Jaianniah's gravatar image

Jaianniah
37.8k13124610

edited 13 Dec '09, 18:24

Barry%20Allen's gravatar image

Barry Allen ♦♦
11411


The God Particle is a term invented by the news media for the Higgs Boson, a massive subatomic particle that is predicted by the Standard Model in quantum physics. The name originates from a book written by Leon Lederman named "The God Particle: If the Universe is the Answer, What is the Question?"

To date, this particle has not been detected in the lab, largely because we were awaiting more powerful particle accelerators to generate the necessary energies required to create the particle under lab conditions. Now that CERN has completed the Large Hadron collider, it is the hope of scientists that the particle can be studied, if it exists.

The name God Particle is unfortunate, as it attaches more importance to the particle than it actually has. Confirmation of the existence of the particle would solve some long-standing problems about the nature of certain subatomic forces, but it is just one piece of an ongoing complex puzzle that particle physicists have been working on for decades.

Discovering the particle won't unlock all of the secrets of the universe, nor will it create a mini-black hole that will swallow the earth, as has been reported in the popular press.

link

answered 06 Dec '09, 18:34

Vesuvius's gravatar image

Vesuvius
32.7k1165201

edited 10 Dec '09, 00:22

The "god" particle is the nickname for the higgs-boson. It has nothing to do with spirituality. The higgs-boson could be used to validate some models of the universe because the problem of quantum mechanics is that there is no universal model to validate gravity. The higgs-boson would be used to prove that gravity exists on a quantum level (by proving that particles have mass). Common sense tells us it does, but in computation models, its hard to prove gravity exists and how weak it is compared to the other 3 quantum forces (weak nuclear, strong nuclear and electromagnetic). The boson essentially gives matter its mass component.

The discovery of the particle is essential to validate if quantum string theory holds any weight or is just pseudoscience.

link

answered 07 Dec '09, 06:19

Andrew%20Keith's gravatar image

Andrew Keith
1812

i acknowledge @ru bris for his post and citation:

"The preliminary results with the full 2012 data set are magnificent and to me it is clear that we are dealing with a Higgs boson, though we still have a long way to go to know what kind of Higgs boson it is."

The particle's existence helps confirm the theory that objects gain their size and shape when particles interact in an energy field with a key particle, the Higgs boson. The more they attract, so the theory goes, the bigger their mass will be.

IMHO, the results are still to be finalized and submitted for peer review to establish its scientific validity.

the Standard Model is inconsistent with that of general relativity, to the point that one or both theories break down under certain conditions (for example within known space-time singularities like the Big Bang and black hole event horizons).

how will this affect the metaphysical beliefs and associated practices that seek to relate consciousness, intelligence, or mystical world-views to the ideas of quantum mechanics and its interpretations? IMNSHO, the standard model promotes the belief that the universe is a system that is closed, deterministic, mechanistic and probabilistic.

links:

biased in favor of the thesis propounded by Fritjof Capra and Gary Zukav: i.e. that Physics has gotten to the point where it is practically incomprehensible to lay-folk without resort to the perspectives provided by ancient traditions which are concerned with the cultivation of intuitive modes of awareness.

parallels between quantum physics and depth psychology in an effort to illuminate the problem of consciousness

the Standard Model of particle physics (which is quark theory combined with electroweak theory) is the correct theory.

certain concepts in physics which have long been completely discarded as sterile, useless or incorrect (the so-called Bootstrap Theory on which Capra worked for his dissertation, and the related S-Matrix Theory) are somehow far more valid that the well-tested theories physicists have used since the 1970s, the so-called “Standard Model,” because they agree with certain concepts Capra (but nobody else) finds in “Eastern Mysticism.

link

answered 18 Mar '13, 23:16

don's gravatar image

don
23225

1

yes @don interesting ... the very fact that this is named "the god particle" and enters into the domain of science, disturbs the idea that some people have of god, thus spirituality is affected, proof being that @Jai is asking this question ... for some, god is an inaccessible spiritual being way beyond our understanding

(19 Mar '13, 06:02) ru bis
Click here to create a free account

If you are seeing this message then the Inward Quest system has noticed that your web browser is behaving in an unusual way and is now blocking your active participation in this site for security reasons. As a result, among other things, you may find that you are unable to answer any questions or leave any comments. Unusual browser behavior is often caused by add-ons (ad-blocking, privacy etc) that interfere with the operation of our website. If you have installed these kinds of add-ons, we suggest you disable them for this website




Related Questions