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why in higgs field drag cause mass? drag is force in general not mass Higgs field- Inquiring Minds - Questions About Physics how drag of higgs field cause mass?

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down voters should think befoe downvoting a naive question , particularly one based on misconceptions due to popularization of science. This forum is open to all physics questions at all levels as long s they are based on logic. –  anna v Jan 24 '13 at 6:33
This and this Phys.SE posts are related. –  Qmechanic Jan 24 '13 at 8:23

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I think you're referring to the statement that the Higgs field "slows things down". This isn't referring to drag or anything close to it. These statements refer to the fact that the Higgs field gives things rest mass. Without rest mass, all elementary particles would travel at $c$. With rest mass, their speed is constrained to between the magnitudes $[0,c)$, and I'm trying to indicate that $c$ isn't included.

Particle's speeds are lower with the Higgs field than without it, hence, the mechanism is sometimes spoken in terms of "slowing down", "drag", or even "jelly". None of these are very good technically, because there is a critical missing detail. The sense in which the Higgs slows things down is a first order sense, while everything we think of as action in a physical sense is a second order sense. Drag has a second order effect on motion.

Your observation is a valid one. The Higgs mechanism is an enabler of inertial and gravitational interaction, as opposed to the particles freely flying at the speed of light. That's only called drag in an extremely loose sense of the meaning of drag. This usage is not loyal to the physical/mechanical sense of drag.

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