08/20/2025
Einstein's Theory of Relativity, better known as E=mc2, made clear that energy and resting mass were interchangeable, and where in between energy and mass there would have to be a bridge.
Experiments in particle physics have revealed that there are two types of particles that exist, half-spinning particles (fermion matter particles), and non-half-spinners (boson force particles).
Fermion matter particles can further be broken down into fermion quarks (found inside atoms, and composing protons and neutrons with the gluon force particle) and fermion leptons (outside the atom, for example an electron).
There are many boson force particles, but the most important are the Higgs force boson (forces massless particles to have mass and most force and matter particles are derived from this and other large parent particles like top quark, and tau particle), the gluon force particle (strong nuclear force that binds quarks), the W and Z boson force particles (the weak nuclear force responsible for forcing radiation and the birth of heavier atoms and the birth of light or photon force particles); photon force particles (also known as light and as the electromagnetic spectrum, and forces electromagnetic wavelengths together); and graviton (forces particles with mass to be attracted to one another).
Interestingly, many particles have no mass, until they come in contact with the Higgs field of the Higgs boson force particle. Again, most force and matter particles can be derived from the Higgs particles and/or from particles derived from Higgs, in what could be compared to a wad of gum, where pulling pieces away from the wad of gum results in a larger wad (Higgs) and a bridge or energy bond between Higgs and the smaller particles it births.
The bridge or energy bond is how Higgs transfers mass to the particles it births, and Einstein's famous equation explains why. The smaller wads (particles) pulled away from Higgs leaves a strand of gum, bridge, or energy bond, and that energy bond has a corresponding mass value using Einstein's equation, and so most massless particles like W and Z have such heavy masses (expressed in Einstein's equation as electron volts divided by the speed of light times the speed of light) because of their energy bond connecting them to their parent particles, largely Higgs.
Now pulling apart the wad of gum (Higgs particle) to yield almost every particle leaves some offspring particles closer or farther from Higgs. It turns out that the particles closest to Higgs have the shortest energy bonds with the most energy and thus the most mass transferred, for example but not limited to the very massive W boson force particle, which otherwise a massless particle.
The farther the offspring particle, the weaker and longer the energy bond, and so the least mass is transferred by Higgs, for example to photons and gravitons, which have little to no mass.
Accordingly, pulled bubble gum can be used as an analogy for how particles are birthed and why some particles are heavier than others.
