Comment Re:Conversion to mass in kg (Score 4, Informative) 173
The higgs is sort of the measureable side effect of the physics that 'give' particles mass.
Think of it this way. The Electro Magnetic field "gives" particles charge. (or the charge in a particle interacts with other charges through the EM field).
There are some particles that sorta 'show up' in the equations when you're dealing with the EM fields (photon, W & Z bosons).
The same sort of things happens with mass. Some physicists came up with an addendum to the current equations that would explain how the mass of particles interacts. These equations have in them (depending on version) 1 or more particles (Higgs bosons).
So it's not so much that the Higgs gives particles mass, but by detecting the Higgs, we prove the existence of the Higgs field which allows mass in particles to interact.