CERN Scientists Capture Antimatter For Record 16 Minutes
- Thread starter Earnest Cavalli
- Start date
Well antimatter creating a black hole is impossible from the logical point of view, as it still needs a certain form of matter which goes critical. Literally speaking, the creation of a black hole is similar to nuclear fission, so we dont have to worry about them doing something stupid and the earth gets swallowed up. Well unless they figure out how to create "black matter", i.e. essentially a ball of supertight material and atoms pressed together that its equivalent is similar to the mass of a small moon. Well at least as far as theory goes.
Fact is Black Holes need Matter to exist, or rather be created, so making a anti-matter particle isnt exactly doing that just yet. However if we ever manage to create them, in a controlled environment and let them collide with a normal particle, i.e. proton vs anti-proton, then the amount of energy generated, especially if it could be done with several hundreds, if not thousands of such collisions occuring every day, we'd have clean and free Power for life. But that would most likely only be possible in "the future", at least a few hundred years from now. The sad part is, it will eventually get turned into a Weapon, the upside of that fact is, that it needs only one of these. A "Antimatter Bomb" as it were, of the size of a common day nuclear Weapon, would be enough to kill every living thing on the planet, no matter who wields it. It would literally be a doomsday device.
Fact is Black Holes need Matter to exist, or rather be created, so making a anti-matter particle isnt exactly doing that just yet. However if we ever manage to create them, in a controlled environment and let them collide with a normal particle, i.e. proton vs anti-proton, then the amount of energy generated, especially if it could be done with several hundreds, if not thousands of such collisions occuring every day, we'd have clean and free Power for life. But that would most likely only be possible in "the future", at least a few hundred years from now. The sad part is, it will eventually get turned into a Weapon, the upside of that fact is, that it needs only one of these. A "Antimatter Bomb" as it were, of the size of a common day nuclear Weapon, would be enough to kill every living thing on the planet, no matter who wields it. It would literally be a doomsday device.
What are these guys paid? Because it's way too much, they're clearly seeing how much bullshit they can pull before someone realizes none of this is real science, right now they hold the record with 17.372 metric fucktons.Earnest Cavalli said:
Antiparticle moving backwards in a mirror universe? Really guys? Really?
Sigh, I hate it when people overlook the actual importance of this amazing feat and start yammering on about weapons...
Also I agree with some other posters that while it's ok to translate the scientific language into plain English it has to be done with utmost care as to avoid confusion. And plain untruths.
Also I agree with some other posters that while it's ok to translate the scientific language into plain English it has to be done with utmost care as to avoid confusion. And plain untruths.
I want to see it tested first on some far away space rock like Pluto. Nobody likes Pluto anyways.
"Yes, Billy. When I was a kid we used to have a ninth planet called Pluto. But then we stripped it of its title and decimated it with a anti-matter ray. That's what the asteroid belt is made of that you're learning about."
"Yes, Billy. When I was a kid we used to have a ninth planet called Pluto. But then we stripped it of its title and decimated it with a anti-matter ray. That's what the asteroid belt is made of that you're learning about."
I love these scientific advancements, especially ones that come from CERN. They always get me really giddy and excited, as if we're on the precipice of some amazing discovery or invention.
WHY AREN'T WE LOOKING FOR PROTHEAN RUINS ON MARS YET, ANYWAY?!
WHY AREN'T WE LOOKING FOR PROTHEAN RUINS ON MARS YET, ANYWAY?!
Other than a couple of vulgarities,danpascooch said:
I completely agree with you. This whole reality-space-time-continuum-vortex-portal-slip-wormhole thing is madness. Congratulations. You've captured atoms. Now tell me how we can use it practically or I'm never going to forgive you for how much money you've spent on caging these nanoscopic pieces of irrelevant matter.
Holy shit! This is awesome
And if we put away the idea of anti-matter bombs for now, anti-matter fuel might be our way off of this planet - as someone calculated on the first page, just a gramm of anti-matter combined with a gramm of matter would result in the energy output of 80-something tonnes of TNT, now imagine if we had a starship with some sort of engines that can provide thrust in space, and a couple of thousand tonnes of both hydrogen and anti-hydrogen in the back
Space exploration, here we come!
And if we put away the idea of anti-matter bombs for now, anti-matter fuel might be our way off of this planet - as someone calculated on the first page, just a gramm of anti-matter combined with a gramm of matter would result in the energy output of 80-something tonnes of TNT, now imagine if we had a starship with some sort of engines that can provide thrust in space, and a couple of thousand tonnes of both hydrogen and anti-hydrogen in the back
Space exploration, here we come!
Grond Strong said:Other than a couple of vulgarities,
Congratulations. You've captured atoms. Now tell me how we can use it practically or I'm never going to forgive you for how much money you've spent on caging these nanoscopic pieces of irrelevant matter.
I'd rather waste millions per year on this than hundreds of millions on inane garbage like football.
You, sir, win the internets and all of science.Joshimodo said:Grond Strong said:Other than a couple of vulgarities,
Congratulations. You've captured atoms. Now tell me how we can use it practically or I'm never going to forgive you for how much money you've spent on caging these nanoscopic pieces of irrelevant matter.
I'd rather waste millions per year on this than hundreds of millions on inane garbage like football.
danpascooch said:
Positrons (anti-electrons) have already been in use in medical equipment used to help diagnose diseases for a few years now. More technologies employing antimatter are currently in development.Grond Strong said:Other than a couple of vulgarities,danpascooch said:
Congratulations. You've captured atoms. Now tell me how we can use it practically or I'm never going to forgive you for how much money you've spent on caging these nanoscopic pieces of irrelevant matter.
As for the usefulness of refinements to physics, it was quantum mechanics, a mind-twistingly bizarre and for the most part incomprehensible theory (I'm guessing you gentlemen would say that it's full of shit), that made the silicon chip possible. The silicon chip, if you're unfamiliar with it, is the basis for all modern computer processors, among other things. The personal computer, video games, and the world wide web would have never happened if people like you had had their way upon discovering what scientists were doing in the early years of quantum mechanics.
What you people need to understand is that all research is always capable of producing unexpected discoveries, and these discoveries are often capable of completely changing our civilization, often for the better. Societies that listen to people like you stagnate and fall behind, becoming economic and technological backwaters. It happened to the Middle East, and it's just beginning to happen to the US. We were the technological powerhouse of the world from the 50s to the 90s, then people like you started talking and that title, and all the wonderful economic benefits that go with it, passed to Europe and China.
Yes, science is expensive, but it tends to pay for itself and then some by creating jobs and new technologies. It is also how a nation stays relevant and able to defend itself.
So please, hush, and let the grownups do the talking.
Hm, you have a point. But I can watch football and enjoy it. (Although I hardly ever get the chance as I don't have cable or any type of T.V. broadcasting.) I also have a choice to put money into football for merchandise or whatever people waste on football things. (I'm personally not that big into sports.) Usually however, this type of science takes money from people like me whether I want to give it or not. It's fine if they have some type of goal in mind for the research of it that will aid my practical life is some way, shape, or form. Heck, I'd probably donate more money to the cause. But it gets me nervous when a million dollar project captures a few anti-matter atoms for about fifteen minutes and we aren't seeing any holograms, spaceships, or lightsabers. What exactly are they planning to do with those atoms? If all they are doing is science for the fun of it, then I'd like a refund please.Joshimodo said:Grond Strong said:Other than a couple of vulgarities,
Congratulations. You've captured atoms. Now tell me how we can use it practically or I'm never going to forgive you for how much money you've spent on caging these nanoscopic pieces of irrelevant matter.
I'd rather waste millions per year on this than hundreds of millions on inane garbage like football.
Just saying.
To give you an idea how powerful the matter anti-matter relation is, if 3/4 of a coin of anti matter come in contact with matter the result will propably create an explosion half the size of the earth.Hungry Donner said:It's sort of negative matter; if you combine a particle and it's anti-matter equivalent (electron and anti-electron, proton and anti-proton) the net result is 0 matter. A nuclear bomb sends out high energy particles and waves and this disrupts matter, anti-matter annihilates it.arc1991 said:what is Anti-Matter
The process of annihilation releases a lot of energy so theoretically matter/anti-matter reactions could be used as an incredible power source, but for now the process of creating an containing anti-matter is prohibitive.
But creating that amount of anti matter takes A LOT of time, say 10.000 years with current technology.
Anti-matter is material that behaves almost exactly the same as matter, all the sub-atomic and elementary anti-particles are the same as normal matter particles, except for the fact that they have opposite charge and all the consequences of this.arc1991 said:And so it begins....
First Nuclear weapons, now Anit-Material Weapons....
God help us all xD
On a serious note....what is Anti-Matter
But when anti-particles meet normal particles of the same type, they annihilate one another and turn into photons. So for example 1 electron + 1 positron (anti-electron) will net 2 photons of energy, leaving behind no electrons and a huge amount of energy. Far more than you would get in a fusion reaction of the same weight of material.
If they COULD create large amounts of antimatter, we had better hope they did not weaponise it.
Also, you can only store antimatter in magnetic and electric fields as it will annihilate itself and parts of its container. Which would not be good or productive.
If we knew what it was we were doing, it would not be called research, would it?Grond Strong said:Hm, you have a point. But I can watch football and enjoy it. (Although I hardly ever get the chance as I don't have cable or any type of T.V. broadcasting.) I also have a choice to put money into football for merchandise or whatever people waste on football things. (I'm personally not that big into sports.) Usually however, this type of science takes money from people like me whether I want to give it or not. It's fine if they have some type of goal in mind for the research of it that will aid my practical life is some way, shape, or form. Heck, I'd probably donate more money to the cause. But it gets me nervous when a million dollar project captures a few anti-matter atoms for about fifteen minutes and we aren't seeing any holograms, spaceships, or lightsabers. What exactly are they planning to do with those atoms? If all they are doing is science for the fun of it, then I'd like a refund please.
Just saying.
- A. Einstein
Although I am sure that colliding subatomic particles at relativistic is fun, creating the quark-gluon plasma they made last time and anti-matter this time, especially when they managed to keep it stable for 16 minutes allows them to research many things, including what the universe consisted of after the big bang but before the world we see now, and anti-matter can be used to release insane amounts of energy, since when matter and anti-matter collide, ALL of the energy that they are made of is released, and nothing but energy remains of them, meaning that anti-matter can potentially become the most efficient form of fuel. Instead of using a million gallons of fuel to launch a rocket, we could use just a few grams of anti-matter fuel, which could make space travel easily accessible, or if that doesn't interest you, a tiny anti-matter bomb can nuke our whole earth.
In any case, space ships and lightsabers do not happen overnight
Hm, and I was under the impression that we got the silicon chip from reverse-researching Megatron... I better get my sources straight.McMullen said:
I'm afraid I might have come across a bit too harsh. I DO promote science. I love science and think it's great. You're perfectly right when you said that it helps the advancement of a nation's society and in some ways is the definition of a nation status. The part that I thought a little whacky is the whole reality deal and mirror universe theory. Sounds like something from Star Trek. When it comes to time travel and alternate realities, I'm a doubter, probably due to the fact that I'm also a Believer. So we'll have to agree to disagree here.
I have faith in the scientific community that they know what they are doing and that the money that's taken from my paycheck every week is being used for something that will eventually turn around and help me in some way. But this kind of thing gets me nervous. I would have much rather read a post of how because we were able to capture anti-matter for this long we now can cure cancer, travel lightspeed, harness the power of fusion, solve world hunger, create intergalactic spacestations and harvest Jupiter's gasses for an infinite power supply or something. But I think that all we did by spending millions of capturing anti-matter in a jar was just that. Capture some atoms in a jar. Cool.
I can be a downer, yea, probably something I should work on. But I can't help trying to think realistically. It's how I was raised. For all of our sakes, I certainly hope you prove me wrong.
Huzzah.
Well in that case, I certainly hope they can pull it off! And although an anti-matter bomb would be really cool to watch, I wouldn't trust it to anyone on this planet. No thanks, disintegration is not on my to-do list.DasDestroyer said:Although I am sure that colliding subatomic particles at relativistic is fun, creating the quark-gluon plasma they made last time and anti-matter this time, especially when they managed to keep it stable for 16 minutes allows them to research many things, including what the universe consisted of after the big bang but before the world we see now, and anti-matter can be used to release insane amounts of energy, since when matter and anti-matter collide, ALL of the energy that they are made of is released, and nothing but energy remains of them, meaning that anti-matter can potentially become the most efficient form of fuel. Instead of using a million gallons of fuel to launch a rocket, we could use just a few grams of anti-matter fuel, which could make space travel easily accessible, or if that doesn't interest you, a tiny anti-matter bomb can nuke our whole earth.
In any case, space ships and lightsabers do not happen overnight
However, a anti-matter powered Mustang is more like it. Practicality should be the first priority of science, in my humble opinion. I might be running against the grain here a tad but I personally don't believe in the "Big Bang Theory." If this turns out not to work in a practical way but still continues as a search for answers of the world's origin then it would be a waste of money for me as I already know how.
That must sound horribly arrogant but I can't think of putting it any other way. I am much more concerned about how the world will end, and when it happens, all the people who aren't ready.Oh no, he's one of "those guys." Yep, but I'm done.
Well, The Big Bang Theory simply seems the most believable imo, but to each his ownGrond Strong said:Well in that case, I certainly hope they can pull it off! And although an anti-matter bomb would be really cool to watch, I wouldn't trust it to anyone on this planet. No thanks, disintegration is not on my to-do list.DasDestroyer said:Although I am sure that colliding subatomic particles at relativistic is fun, creating the quark-gluon plasma they made last time and anti-matter this time, especially when they managed to keep it stable for 16 minutes allows them to research many things, including what the universe consisted of after the big bang but before the world we see now, and anti-matter can be used to release insane amounts of energy, since when matter and anti-matter collide, ALL of the energy that they are made of is released, and nothing but energy remains of them, meaning that anti-matter can potentially become the most efficient form of fuel. Instead of using a million gallons of fuel to launch a rocket, we could use just a few grams of anti-matter fuel, which could make space travel easily accessible, or if that doesn't interest you, a tiny anti-matter bomb can nuke our whole earth.
In any case, space ships and lightsabers do not happen overnight
I might be running against the grain here a tad but I personally don't believe in the "Big Bang Theory." If this turns out not to work in a practical way but still continues as a search for answers of the world's origin then it would be a waste of money for me as I already know how.
Oh no, he's one of "those guys." Yep, but I'm done.
By the way the Big Bang Theory does not necessarily contradict there being a God - perhaps he was the one who made it
That is, in fact, the greatest uncertainty in the whole theory - what happened before, as all evidence points to the world at one point being much, much smaller, denser and hotter, but there is nothing to show where it first came from.In any case, the plasma and the anti-matter can reveal new properties of matter, since heating things up to tens of trillions of degrees isn't exactly something we can do very easily.
As for the world ending, if none of the religions turn out to be right, the earth will eventually be destroyed by asteroids or perhaps even humans themselves, them much later it will be engulfed by the sun, when it goes Red Giant. As for the rest of the universe - it will continue to expand and will eventually reach it's heat death.
If they do turn out to be right, well, infinite hot tubs in hell for me