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Im no physics genius here, I was just interested in the Higgs Boson so I was reading this article : How the Discovery of the Higgs Boson Could Break Physics

I came across this

Furthermore, all indications are that scientists will find that the Higgs weighs 125 gigaelectronvolts (GeV) – or about 125 times more than a proton – which means that it sits exactly where the Standard Model expected it to be.

How can weight be measured in electron-volts?

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2 Answers 2

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You've probably heard of Einstein's famous equation:

$$ e = mc^2 $$

This states that mass and energy are equivalent, and indeed the LHC turns energy into matter every day. So to find the mass equivalent to an electron volt just convert eV to Joules and divide by $c^2$. 1 electron volt = $1.60217646 \times 10^{-19}$ joules, so 125 GeV is:

$$ 125 \times 10^9 \times 1.60217646 \times 10^{-19} / c^2 \approx 2.22 \times 10^{-25} kg $$

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It is the convention of setting the velocity of light $c=1$ that allows for this, the natural units, otherwise it is $\mathrm{GeV}/c^2$

The rest mass energy connection $$E^2=p^2+m^2$$ at rest then the mass is identified with energy in natural units.

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