(Sorry for ranting instead of explaining, but I do not have much time at the moment.)<p>I really hate this molasses explanation of the Higgs field. The problem is, it is wrong, suggests a wrong intuition and obstructs actually interesting physics. It is wrong, because the mass is something very different from friction. It suggests a wrong intuition, because the snow field, or the molasses, generates a force when something is moving through the medium. But there is no medium to move through. ( And mass acts, when there is a change of velocity, friction if there is velocity.) And the last point, the Higgs mechanism is a mathematical manipulation, which gets a term into the equations, that looks exactly like a mass term would. ( But without breaking electro weak symmetry.) There is really a lot of interesting physics going on here. The most fundamental question is probably, what is the relation between reality and physical models. If in one model the Z boson is massive, and in a equivalent model the Z boson is massless, but both models agree on every quantitative prediction. In which sense can we say that the Z boson is massive?
Back in 1993 there was a competition whose target was to explain the Higgs in one page of text. I found these very enlightening as well. Here are the winners:<p><a href="http://www-cdf.fnal.gov/~bernd/higgs/" rel="nofollow">http://www-cdf.fnal.gov/~bernd/higgs/</a>
The best explanation of the Higgs mechanism I've seen so far has been from "minute physics":<p>Part 1: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Uh5mTxRQcg" rel="nofollow">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Uh5mTxRQcg</a><p>Part 2: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ASRpIym_jFM" rel="nofollow">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ASRpIym_jFM</a><p>Part 3: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6guXMfg88Z8" rel="nofollow">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6guXMfg88Z8</a><p>(If you only watch one part, watch part 2, it's only 170 seconds long.)
I have a basic understanding of electrons and the electric field. Can I think about a Higgs particle like a particle with a mass charge? Does the field work similarly to the electric field? Do all particles with mass have a Higgs particle in them?
That's a very nice illustration.<p>If you'd like a quick read, here's an "elevator pitch" explaining the Higgs mechanism/boson -- <a href="http://dickfeynman.ruhoh.com/physics/higgs-for-laypeople/" rel="nofollow">http://dickfeynman.ruhoh.com/physics/higgs-for-laypeople/</a>