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In the Satsanga a scientific discussion is presented about a sub-atomic particle which is popularly known as ‘God Particle’.
Peter Higgs
In 1964, particle physicist Peter Higgs discovered a sub-atomic particle which is now known as the Higgs boson. Scientists believe that the Higgs boson gives all matter it’s mass, and thus it is considered a fundamental particle. More recently, the Higgs boson has been known by a more colorful name as the ‘God Particle’. It is very interesting how the Higgs boson got this new name. The scientific community thinks that it is very surprising for this Higgs boson to get the name ‘God particle.’
The fact is that Nobel-prize winner Leon Lederman coined the theistic name for the Higgs boson as ‘God particle’. Higgs, whose name is associated with this fundamental particle, commented that, “I find it embarrassing because, though I’m not a believer myself, I think it is the kind of misuse of terminology which I think might offend some people.” [1] Higgs further says that, it wasn’t even Lederman’s choice, “He wanted to refer to it as that ‘goddamn particle’ and his editor wouldn’t let him.” [1] Beacause of its heavy mass, the particle is very difficult to detect and it is very expensive to build a large enough collider to prove its existence.
Large Hadron Collider at CERN
In May of 2008 Science Daily published a news item with the title “Large Hadron Collider Enables Hunt For ‘God Particle’ To Complete ‘Theory Of Everything’”. [2] The scientists built a Large Hadron Collider, which they believe will help them understand the interactions of the fundamental forces of nature. They also hope this will enable them to resolve the puzzle of why gravity is the weakest fundamental force.
It is mentioned in the Science Daily news article that, “The collider is a successor of sorts to the Superconducting Supercollider; a high-energy collider that was to have been built in Texas. The supercollider was first proposed in 1983 and construction began in 1991, but escalating cost estimates and other factors created controversy and Congress cancelled the project in 1993 after about $2 billion had been spent.”
In the mid 1990’s, scientists from the University of Washington (UW) started working on various aspects of the Large Hadron Collider. It is expected by UW scientists that “the collider will send hydrogen protons racing at nearly the speed of light in opposite directions through parallel underground cylinders that form a large circle about 16.5 miles in circumference, straddling the Swiss-French border. The cylinders intersect at various points, allowing proton collisions that produce sub-atomic particles that can be observed by one of the six detectors, each positioned at one of the intersections.” The tubes which are needed for the functioning of detectors have a skin just 1/64th of an inch thick. The major achievement that UW scientists achieved is that they were able to design and manufacture these tubes which require great precision.
His Holiness Bhakti Madhava Puri Swami, Ph.D., of the Bhaktivedanta Institute, discussed this topic during the Weekly Online Science/Spirituality Satsanga on July 20, 2008. Maharaja explained that billions of dollars were spent for building the large underground collider, which requires a giant magnetic cylinder in order to get charged particles to move at a very high speed. When these particles collide they will fission and produce many sub-particles. For example, when two protons collide with each other at a very high speed and at high-energy impact, they split into smaller sub-atomic particles which are also known as quarks. The combination of strongly interacting sub-atomic particles is called a hadron, in which the sub-atomic particles are called quarks. Quarks are smaller than neutrons and protons which are made up of quarks.
Electrons are not made up of any sub particles as they are already very small. There is a limit to the size of fundamental particles, thus we can not find further sub-atomic particles smaller than that. According to modern quantum theory we have to stop at a certain point beyond which we can no longer find any further sub-atomic particles. Electrons are extremely small particles and very light in weight. The classical radius of a free electron is taken to be about 3×10-15 meters (weight 9.11 × 10-31 kg), and the classical radius of a free proton is taken to be about 1×10-15 (weight 1.67 × 10-27 kg).
The electron may be treated as a particle or as a wave according to the theory of quantum mechanics. Actually, the electron is merely a vector in Hilbert space. This space is not a physical space of three dimensions, but a mathematical space of infinite dimensions. Functional space does not have a space-time coordinate frame. Elec
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