Sheldon Cooper and 5 must-see videos to let you say something intelligent about the Higgs boson

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Higgs boson got you thinking? Or confused? Here are some videos for your enlightenment on the elusive 'God particle.' So you can at least say something intelligent at work, in class, or at the party. 

1. What's a Higgs Boson?, posted by Fermilab

A three-minuter hosted by physicist Dr. Don Lincoln of Fermilab, a US Department of Energy laboratory dedicated to research on particle physics. It contains a short introduction to Dr. Peter Higgs, as well as an explanation of the Higgs Field. Metaphors of choice: water, a barracuda, a rotund (and very hairy) man.

2. Higgs Theory Analogy, posted by ricabreu1

This is a clip from Morgan Freeman's show on the Science Channel, "Through the Wormhole". From the first season's seventh episode titled "What Are We Really Made Of?," this three-minuter includes an interview with the man the Higgs Boson was named after: Peter Higgs. Higgs recounts CERN's rejection of his theory, and the Physical Review Letters' review of it.

48 years after Higgs first posited the existence of the boson named after him, CERN, or the European Organization for Nuclear Research, was behind the Wednesday announcement that "a new sub-atomic particle consistent with the Higgs boson" had been found.

Metaphor of choice: Barack Obama and paparazzi.

3.  Journey to Discover the Nature of Mass, directed by Chris Mann for CERN

For an animated explanation of the Higgs Boson starting from the Big Bang, click on this four-minute clip. 

Graduate from the Higgs boson to the Higgs Field, which supposedly encompasses the entire universe. What do these have to do with mass and energy?

This also illustrates how the Hadron Collider works in relation to the Higgs Boson.

Metaphor of choice: water and ice, and molasses.

4. What Is the Higgs Boson?, posted by CERNTV

 A clip uploaded Tuesday by CERN features theoretical physicist John Ellis explaining the function of the Higgs boson. "The Higgs Boson has its job of giving masses to all the other elementary particles," he says.

But you already know that by now.

Still, his analogy of the Higgs Boson as a snowflake and the Higgs Field as a "universal field of snow" sheds more light on the matter, and gives you more ammunition at your next party. 

5. "The Bozeman Reaction" from season 3, episode 13 of The Big Bang Theory

It's Sheldon Cooper's turn at Pictionary in this episode of "The Big Bang Theory". You already know the answer. But as with all things concerning the God particle, that's not the point. 

This one we can't embed. You'll have to watch it on YouTube. Click here.

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