- #1
tonyxon22
- 75
- 5
If I understand the basics correctly, the idea behind the Large Hadron Collider is to discover de Higgs boson. To do this, they accelerate protons to 99,99999% the speed of light.
I think it was Einstein who said that no particle with mass can ever reach the speed of light, there is a physical barrier that prevents that to happen.
So one thing that I think to understand but I'm not sure is: when protons get very close to the speed of light, they get heavier and heavier. This suggests that there are more and more Higgs bosons somehow "getting attached" to the proton to make it heavier, so it can never be accelerated to the speed of light.
This way, when they force a collision between two protons at almost the speed of light (loaded with Higgs bosons) but in oposite directions, they expect to break them down and find somewhere a Higgs boson, which is probable because there were so many.
Is this correct?
If it's not, my next and main question makes no sense at all...
How is the conservation of energy respected in a system of an accelerating proton if, besides the energy you somehow input (probably via magnetic field) to accelerate the particle making it gain kinetic energy, there is mass "appearing" out of nowhere through the Higgs bosons?
I think it was Einstein who said that no particle with mass can ever reach the speed of light, there is a physical barrier that prevents that to happen.
So one thing that I think to understand but I'm not sure is: when protons get very close to the speed of light, they get heavier and heavier. This suggests that there are more and more Higgs bosons somehow "getting attached" to the proton to make it heavier, so it can never be accelerated to the speed of light.
This way, when they force a collision between two protons at almost the speed of light (loaded with Higgs bosons) but in oposite directions, they expect to break them down and find somewhere a Higgs boson, which is probable because there were so many.
Is this correct?
If it's not, my next and main question makes no sense at all...
How is the conservation of energy respected in a system of an accelerating proton if, besides the energy you somehow input (probably via magnetic field) to accelerate the particle making it gain kinetic energy, there is mass "appearing" out of nowhere through the Higgs bosons?