It’s nice to have equations and graphs which can be used to predict things.
In measuring nature we tabulate the data.
Sometimes it’s easiest to reference the data directly, by just looking up what happened before. Other times a graph can be plotted and used to guess from, when the desired data falls outside of the measured group data.
But it’s always a guess.
Sometimes an algebraic expression can be found which matches the data, as in a sine wave and an ocean wave. Sometimes the data can be reproduced by several different expressions, and so a choice may be made.
When choosing an expression to represent a physical phenomenon we generally rely upon the work of others, and use equations published in text books etc. and discovered by scientists.
But the equations are not actually discovered, but rather selected by the scientist as the best fit. Sometimes this is right on the money, but even then, nature is not actually bound by our equations.
It might be obvious that; next, more data might be collected and the equations refined or substituted. Complexity can increase as this equation is peer reviewed. It must fit with all the other equations describing nature. Standardized units of measure and mathematical standards (how the symbols are used etc.) blend all these equations into a usable system describing many aspects of nature.
For those who don’t know, Newton is credited for much of this in his expressions we now call Newtonian Physics. Later scientists noticed the fit was not perfect leading to Einstein and relativity and quantum mechanics.
Problem.
They don’t really fit together. Relativity for tiny stuff and larger, but quantum mechanics for the ultra small and smaller.
That process of: measure, fit, re-measure, re-fit, … continued unto the Standard Model and String Theory.
Using string theory (which is currently unproven) to engineer a device is a ways off, but quantum mechanical devices are indeed being made now (after nearly a century of discovery.) The 1960’s were called the golden age of quantum mechanics, but it seems the 2010’s will be the decade of initial quantum mechanical engineering.
The devices themselves are not so much quantum devices as all of reality should be subject to the same quantum laws, but rather the method of investigating and engineering using the odd rules of science collectively called quantum physics.
It’s hard to tell where Newton left off and modern physics began. Sure, gravitation is different in Newton’s view and Einstein’s as the later did provide a perspective yielding a better fit (relativity.) But Higgs has provided an even better one, if it turns out to be tested as accurate at all.
Back to the Higgs boson?
They say there may be five of them last I heard. But they have not yet captured an event to prove it. (Or they may not have analyzed the data yet.)
If you are wondering why this is important, especially if it stands to once again be corrected by scientists a century from now, is that; it is important to have equations which match the data we record from observing nature, to safely build our new devices.
So, to you inventors who are inclined to experiment rather than to look things up or apply equations, …I say: Go FOR IT! Let the others do the fitting while you follow your instincts. There is a remote chance you will stumble upon a phenomenon or process purely by luck or premonition. The laws of quantum mechanics would seem to support the notion that all things are possible (although some are not going to happen, period, and so don’t bet on a long-shot unless you can afford to loose.)
I tend to think that a scientist will eventually discover a reliable coupling between gravity and electricity, and demonstrate it in a lab. For it to be an engineered experiment it would seemingly rely upon string theory for its inspiration, perhaps as a test of that aspect. Finding the Higgs Boson just might provide the foundation upon which new equations are written and inspiration happens. A scientist may be driven to prove or disprove the conjecture of another. Scaling up might take decades or centuries. The Higgs boson might be found this or next year.
Or maybe it’s time for a new better fit?
