How will we use the Higgs Field?

[ZetaX]

If we can locally strengthen or weaken the weak force by changing effect the higgs boson has on the the mass of the W and Z bosons, then we change the stability of nuclear isotopes. It may be possible to access the hypothesised island of stability around atoms with 300 to 330 protons. Some of these might prove to be powerful and maybe even safer alternatives to nuclear fission power sources. Imagine having a single battery in your pocket that powers your house and your car and everything else you own, and you only need one in your whole lifetime.

Where is that power supposedly comming from if not fission or decay¿ If any of those, leaving aside practicality and that you could already do that woth e.g. plutonium, it will give you cancer, or at that energy output more likely a rather fast death by radiation poisoning. Also you are talking about several (milli)grams of pure energy, i.e. a small nuclear bomb if handled incorrectly.

By the way, the island of stability is around 120 (not 300, that's definitely absurd) protons, if I remember correctly.

[Superluminaut]

Probably some kind of imaging tech, its basically what we always end up creating.

[DerpenWolf]

I haven't really taken the time to learn about this model of subatomic particles mainly because many of the discoveries in this field are so recent, thus causing me to be a bit skeptical about them getting it right the first time. So how do they know what they find is what they think it is? I'm not saying there wrong but I am just curious on how they confirm their observations.

[K^2]

I haven't really taken the time to learn about this model of subatomic particles mainly because many of the discoveries in this field are so recent, thus causing me to be a bit skeptical about them getting it right the first time. So how do they know what they find is what they think it is? I'm not saying there wrong but I am just curious on how they confirm their observations.

They look at stuff that comes out when a particle decays. By looking at product particles, you can identify mass and quantum numbers of the source. This tells you that what you are dealing with is a very heavy boson. Then you want to make sure that it's an elementary particle and not just a bunch of already known particles clumping together. There are some meson excitation that could be mistaken for Higgs Boson, for example. However, these have completely different decay modes, so if you observe enough decay events, you can exclude this possibility. So finally, what we see is a very massive elementary boson with decay modes consistent with Higgs mechanism. Looks like a duck, quacks like a duck, and there are no reasonable alternatives.

[DerpenWolf]

They look at stuff that comes out when a particle decays. By looking at product particles, you can identify mass and quantum numbers of the source. This tells you that what you are dealing with is a very heavy boson. Then you want to make sure that it's an elementary particle and not just a bunch of already known particles clumping together. There are some meson excitation that could be mistaken for Higgs Boson, for example. However, these have completely different decay modes, so if you observe enough decay events, you can exclude this possibility. So finally, what we see is a very massive elementary boson with decay modes consistent with Higgs mechanism. Looks like a duck, quacks like a duck, and there are no reasonable alternatives.

Ahh, so they look at they decay to determine what it is then for the most part! Thanks

[Motokid600]

Now we just need to find some element zero.

[tom1499]

I'm sure if they discovered a particle that let Facebook show you more pictures, or faster 3G internet, the public would be quick to shut up and let the scientists just keep on sciencin'.

[ZetaX]

Now we just need to find some element zero.

We already did so in 1932, it has a half life of about 14.7 minutes.

[K^2]

We already did so in 1932, it has a half life of about 14.7 minutes.

That's mean lifetime, not half-life. Half-life is closer to 10 minutes.

[Oxytropis]

Man made anti-de sitter bubble

[Starwaster]

^ http://www.damninteresting.com/half-science-and-hafnium-bombs/ comes to my mind immediately

Californium rounds.

Now all we need are the damper boxes to keep the munitions from decaying before they reach the battlefield...

[Aghanim]

Californium rounds.

Now all we need are the damper boxes to keep the munitions from decaying before they reach the battlefield...

An article entitled "Facts and Fallacies of World War III" in the July 1961, edition of Popular Science magazine read "A californium atomic bomb need be no bigger than a pistol bullet. You could build a hand-held six-shooter to fire bullets that would explode on contact with the force of 10 tons of TNT."[64]

[K^2]

Now all we need are the damper boxes to keep the munitions from decaying before they reach the battlefield...

That's the cool thing about Hafnium-178. Its m2 nuclear isomer has a half-life of about 30 years. In other words, it stores relatively well. Furthermore, the transition is entirely into electromagnetic radiation, so in theory, you can get it to lase, making it give up its energy in short time. And there is a lot of energy there. About 2MeV per nucleus, which gives you about 100 thousand times better energy density than any chemical fuel.

Huge amount of energy, releases on demand, no neutron radiation, and it only loses half of the "charge" in three decades. Comparisons to Californium or any other fission fuel are absolutely useless.

The DARPA TRIP document, which was finally declassified a few years ago, suggests that it would cost about 1$/J of energy stored, however. So with current technologies, we can't make good use of ¹⁷⁸Hf, but as we get better understanding of the nucleus, we might be able to improve on that. In fact, there are already better techniques available for production than were around during DARPA's TRIP project.

[Monkeh]

Fannie Melange, a down and out Parisian scientist, produces the world's first mass manipulator in December 2154. The results of her experiments cause the Earth to lose 85% of its current mass before being shut down. Our atmosphere vents to space and people can jump to the moon.

It goes down in history as, 'Not a bad day'!

Edited November 26, 2013 by Monkeh