6. (a) The Standard Model classifies force mediating particles as bosons - Scottish Highers Physics - Question 6 - 2015

To find the mass of the Higgs boson using its energy equivalence:

1. Start with the mass-energy equivalence formula:

   $E = mc^2$

2. Rearranging for mass gives:

   m = rac{E}{c^2}

3. With the given energy of the Higgs boson as 126 GeV, convert this to joules:

   $126 ext{ GeV} = 126 imes 10^9 ext{ eV} imes 1.6 imes 10^{-19} ext{ J/eV} = 2.016 imes 10^{-11} ext{ J}$

4. The speed of light, $c$, is approximately $3 imes 10^8$ m/s. Therefore,

   m = rac{2.016 imes 10^{-11}}{(3 imes 10^8)^2} = 2.2 imes 10^{-25} ext{ kg}

The mass of a proton is approximately $1.67 imes 10^{-27}$ kg. To compare the mass of the Higgs boson:

1. Calculate the ratio:

   rac{2.2 imes 10^{-25}}{1.67 imes 10^{-27}} \\ ext{which simplifies to approximately 130.5}

2. This indicates that the Higgs boson is about 130 times more massive than a proton.

3. In terms of orders of magnitude, the Higgs boson is 2 orders of magnitude bigger than a proton.