He argued that, intrinsically speaking, particles are massless, just as the pristine symmetric equations required. However, Higgs continued, when thrust into the world, the particles acquire mass through an environmental influence. Higgs envisioned that space is filled with an invisible substance, now called the Higgs field, and that particles pushed through the field experience a drag force somewhat like that experienced by a Wiffle ball flying through air. Even though a Wiffle ball weighs next to nothing, if you hold it outside the window of a car revving up to ever-higher speeds, your hand
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