NSB Students Explore Higgs Particle Breaking News

Wednesday the 4th July was a big day for Physicists all over the world. After forty five years of searching, scientists at CERN made their long awaited announcement.

Northampton School for Boys Physics students were lucky enough to be at the Department of Physics and Astronomy at Birmingham University to hear the news and get further explanation. As part of our efforts to engage other schools we had invited Wrenn School and Bedford School to join us.

Sir Peter Higgs made a prediction many years ago of the existence of a particle that was responsible for giving objects mass. This Higgs particle or Higgs boson or God particle as it has been referred to has proved to be very elusive and is a bit like the missing piece from a jigsaw.

The standard model enables scientists to make sense of the universe, its creation and how matter is composed. The Higgs particle was the missing piece.

Results from ATLAS and ALICE at CERN have shown the existence of a new particle within the energy range they expected the unstable Higgs particle to exist.

They are almost certain they have found it but need to carry out further tests to be 100% sure.

Having 'parked' on the M6 in long queues for what seemed like an age we arrived and Dr Nigel Watson gave the first lecture of the day. Students found out more of the work being done at CERN, how particle accelerators work and the behaviour and detection of neutrinos.

They looked for the existence of electrons, muons, neutrinos and particle jets from the data they were given and what might have decayed to produce them.

Physics has never been so popular! Applications are up and students realise how highly a Physics degree is regarded and the many doors it can open.