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The Higgs Boson -- a hero or a villain?

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Is the Higgs Boson responsible for the mass of things? If it's not, then what IS? I don't think you can actually classify Higgs as a hero or a villain, but it sounded really cool to me.

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Additional Resources for you to Explore
Super fun interactive particle physics games by the folks at CERN (European Organization for Nuclear Research). Explore the particle accelerators!
Video: Brian Greene and Lawrence Krauss discuss the Higgs Boson at the World Science Festival.
Read about the Higgs Boson and it's significance from the particle accelerator laboratory that discovered it.
PBS Atom Builder Interactive Site (requires Shockwave) -- featuring the "guide to elementary particles" and "building stable atoms". Also includes a glossary and a link to biographical information for scientists and their relevant discoveries. This interactive lets you use quarks to build particles and also build radioactive and stable atoms. See it here.
A basic atom-builder activity that's perfect for beginners (works great on a whiteboard).
Free downloadable atom builder app, Build an atom out of protons, neutrons, and electrons, and see how the element, charge, and mass change. Then play a game to test your ideas!
"Do these protons make my mass look big?"--Any atom, anywhere.
Avatar for R Kaplan
Lesson Creator
Newtown, CT, United States
Teaching Newtonian physics leaves our students 150 odd years behind the times. How do we change our science curricula to keep up with current discoveries and still make them complete?
08/07/2013 • 
 2 Responses
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