Conceptual fractal illustration of a Higgs Field, an energy field that exists everywhere in the universe. The field is accompanied by a fundamental particle called the Higgs Boson (seen at CERN in 2014), which the field uses to continuously interact with other particles. As particles pass through the field they are "given" mass, much as an object passing through treacle will become slower. Mass itself is not generated by the Higgs field - the creation of matter or energy would conflict with the laws of conservation. However, mass is "imparted" to particles from the Higgs field, which contains the relative mass in the form of energy. Once the field has endowed a formerly massless particle the particle slows down because it has become heavier. If the Higgs field did not exist, particles would not have the mass required to attract one another, and would float around freely at light speed.