“Physics is Having a Nervous Breakdown” -Michio Kaku

The 2013 Nobel Prize in Physics went to two men involved in proving the existence of the Higgs boson, commonly known as the God Particle.

The discovery of this elusive particle (originally called the Goddamn particle by physicists) is one of the most talked about topics both publicly and in the physics community. Ask anyone and they’ve most likely heard its name but many do not know why it’s so important.

Physics still has some holes, but physicists hope to fill them with the Higgs boson

There are many theories in physics that are still not fully understood, and some that contradict with others. The Higgs boson could possibly explain some of the following physics mysteries:

  • the origin of mass of elementary particles
  • the big bang theory as well as the fate of the universe
  • the connection between quantum physics and relativity

The biggest problem in physics

When Einstein created his theory of relativity, many called it a final theory, and a theory of everything. His theories were consistent with all the physics we experienced in our daily lives yet also explained the extremely big (general relativity) and the incredibly fast (special relativity).

Years later, the theory of quantum mechanics was created to describe the exceptionally small parts of the universe. While quantum mechanics is extremely confusing – physicists joke that if you think you understand it, you’re doing it wrong – it does well to explain the crazy world that exists on a length scale that makes “microscopic” look enormous.

The only problem is that quantum mechanics and general relativity don’t agree.

In the following video, world renowned physicist Michio Kaku describes the problem with the inconsistencies of general relativity. He shows that the breakdown of physical laws in a black hole. A result of infinity is a physicists nightmare. Infinity means that all laws fall apart. And when Einstein’s laws are combined with quantum mechanics, an menacing beast is formed, an infinite series of infinities.

“Time stops… it means the collapse of everything we know about the physical universe. In the real world, there is no such thing as infinity.”

-Michio Kaku

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