Curious about the “Higgs Boson” breakthrough mentioned in the popular science news lately, and/or the nature of the very small10 particles that make up life, the universe and everything? (Of course you are!)
Well Daniel Whiteson, an experimental physicist at CERN, where the exciting high energy particle smashing action has been taking place, explains it to you, as illustrated and animated in “animated whiteboard” style by Jorge Cham of PHD (Piled Higher and Deeper) Comics in a short called The Higgs Boson Explained (on Vimeo).
The Higgs Boson Explained from PHD Comics on Vimeo.
(The animation begins about 30 seconds in. The above screens are just samples, and not meant to be a sequence).
This was recorded and animated prior to the recent announcement that the mysterious and elusive particle (which Mr. Higgs so carelessly misplaced) has likely been found by the happy matter smashers at CERN (well, 99.999% likely).
Don’t you just feel smarter already?
[Via Rebecca J. Rosen on The Atlantic]
