Quantum Mechanics is that extraordinarily theoretical branch of physics that tries to describe and depict what goes on inside an atom through ridiculously complex equations that only a select few nut-cases in the world can trully grasp and understand. (youtube: Ed Witten)
In the universe of scientific research, it is essentially a philosofical branch of physics, because most of the theories based on quantum mechanics cannot actually be experimented (such as string theory or M-theory). And if common sense serves us right, if it can't be experimented, you can only hypothesize and philosofically come up with an explanation. Of course, the theories based on quantum mecanics do have solid scientific foundations. But even the biggest, most studied and widely accepted theory at the moment, The Standard Model, is missing a HUGE piece: The Higgs Boson. If CERN's (European Organization for Nuclear Research) Large Hadron Collider doesn't find this ellusive beast in the next 10 years, EVERYTHING will need a brand new explanation and every theory based on the standard model will be as valuable as mouse droppings.
According to particle physicists, the Higgs Boson (named after its most rabid researcher, Peter Higgs) is pretty much the reason stuff is solid or has mass. When this particle is plugged into the Standard Model equation, everything works and makes sense and puts smiles on physicist's faces. But at this point that's all it is; an imaginary beast that makes a huge equation work. Most of the fundamental particles have actually already been detected in accelerators, which leads physicists to believe, that it really is the most solid theory in the history of man-kind that picks appart the basic building blocks of the entire UNIVERSE. In fact, it is so solid, that most particle physicists are confident that it's only a matter of time before Mr. Higgs Boson shows up at CERN's Large Hadron Collider in the coming years.
Well, I hope I haven't made a fool out of myself trying to sound like a particle physicist, but my question is this: What if they DON'T find this little monster? Then what? I guess a lot of particle physicists at CERN and all over the world will be very sad and overwhelmed, but it is a very likely posibility. The higgs may never show up and scientists will be in a dead-lock as far as going forth with other experiments that are based on standard model data. It is a wall that frightens scientists and at the same time pushes them to work that much harder because the spin-offs on the breakthroughs made if this pans out are unimaginable. Already just by building the LHC scientists have had to pull rabbits, horses, and rhinos out of their sleeves to make this machine work. The technology being used at the moment to propel protons around a 27km hoop, 100 meters underground at nearly the speed of light, makes the Starship Enterprise look like a paper airplane.
For the physicists' sanity sake, I hope they do get a strangle-hold on the higgs boson and pin him up on a wall for the scientific world to see. But for humanity's sake, I just hope they keep doing what they're doing because in a blink of an eye, a sliver of unexpected technology will surface that may change humanity forever.
