So, what exactly is the Higgs Boson?

This week all eyes will be on the International Conference on High Energy Physics, which will be taking place on my doorstep in the beautiful city of Melbourne, Australia.

The reason is that for weeks now, rumours have gained momentum suggesting that CERN, the European Organisation for Nuclear Research, have made significant progress in the worldwide hunt for the elusive Higgs Boson, otherwise known as the ‘God particle’ (somewhat misleadingly).

According to Red Orbit, the announcement will include the latest results from ATLAS and CMS, two major experiments at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC).

If found, this discovery would validate the Standard Model of particle physics, as the Higgs Boson remains the last subatomic particle yet to be experimentally observed.

As noted by The Inquisitr, the significance of such a discovery means we would have a proven model that “is the sum of scientific knowledge about the universe: what it’s made of, how it works, and the forces that govern the behaviour of phenomena”.

Clearly a compelling development.

But what exactly is the Higgs Boson? How does it fit into our current understanding of electrons, mass, quarks etc? To help fill in those blanks, an excellent video has been developed (above) that gives you a step-by-step guide to what exactly is going on, in comic form. 

Then, together we wait until July 4 and all will be revealed. Maybe. Hopefully.