Quote:
Originally Posted by ChrisD
This Matt Strassler guy just confuses me. He has the qualifications to support the belief that he is an authority in the field yet his argument feels very "flat earther".
So here I am, with zero qualifications in particle physics, about to "Dunning Kruger" my way into this discussion. Here I go...
His basic premise, as stated in his blog, is: - If an object moves, the Higgs field affects it by slowing it down, while
- If it doesn’t move, the Higgs field does nothing to it
and then his conclusion is that this violates the laws of motion and so physics is broken.
From what I've read, the term "Slowing Down", with regard to the Higgs field, is a METAPHOR physicists use.
Without the Higgs field, certain fundamental particles (like W and Z bosons) would be massless, like photons. Massless particles travel at the speed of light in a vacuum. The Higgs mechanism "endows" these particles with mass, meaning they can no longer travel at the speed of light. This reduction from light-speed is sometimes described metaphorically as being "slowed down" due to their interaction with the Higgs field.The Higgs field does not actively resist motion or apply a force that reduces the velocity of a particle. Newton's laws are not violated.
Chris |
Thanks Chris,
I just watched this video by Arvin Ash and it didn't help much:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R7dsACYTTXE
Then this one from Matt O'Dowd went way over my head
and even people with Masters of Science degrees agree with me:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G0Q4UAiKacw
cheers
Allan