CERN Large Hadron Collider: How it works

Based on tests conducted at the Large Hadron Collider on the French-Swiss border, scientists at the CERN research center believe they have found the so-called "God Particle," the Higgs boson, so named because it gives other subatomic particle their mass. The Higgs boson has been theorized for decades but never directly observed. Confirmation of its existence would place it alongside other subatomic particles to have been observed within the Standard Model of particle physics.

This animation explains how the Large Hadron Collider works. The existence of the Higgs boson was confirmed after analyzing data from the Large Hadron Collider, which is part of the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN).