"The hierarchy problem is hard to explain. ... Basically, the problem is that there are two main energy (or mass) scales in nature, but that situation shouldn’t be stable. One is the Planck scale, which is defined via fundamental constants: the speed of light, c; Planck’s quantum size, h; and Newton’s gravitational force strength, G. The associated energy scale is about 1019 GeV. The other is the electroweak scale, which is set by the masses of the Higgs and the W and Z bosons, at about 102 GeV. (Protons and atoms have smaller scales, but we understand how to derive those.) It is a conceptual problem, not a conflict with observations."