Cern Scientists Trap First Antimatter Atoms

[Icarion (aka Stockholm)]

Woooo! Go science
OT this is a major break through so
Go science!

 

[SaturdayS]

The whole symmetry theory makes me feel like the universe is just a big RPG. I mean like I should put down the controller for the games I've been playing and start farming for the other types of antimatter so I can make some sweet power ups before the rest of the n00bs wear them out.

 

[Green Ninja]

- but one has to crawl before you sprint," said Gabrielse.

Tony Stark dissagrees.

 

[RyanKaufman]

The whole symmetry theory makes me feel like the universe is just a big RPG. I mean like I should put down the controller for the games I've been playing and start farming for the other types of antimatter so I can make some sweet power ups before the rest of the n00bs wear them out.

You must construct additional Pylons...I mean antimatter.

 

[megs1120]

Okay, I get that this is a big deal and everything, we've never been able to hold antimatter before.

But what can we actually do with it. How the hell do we harness its "energy" to, uh make starships. I'm not a physics nut, so can someone explain this to me? I'm only just finishing my first year Chemistry at uni, and from what little physics-based stuff I was able to get from that, I would have thought something with no net charge would be pretty useless.

When antimatter and matter come in contact, to use super-complicated science terms, they kerplode and convert their mass almost entirely into energy. The biiiiiig problem with antimatter is that, even if we could make enough of the stuff, you would need to use more energy to create it than it would release in a reaction. It'd be great at storing enormous amounts of energy, but it'd waste an even more enormous amount of energy during production.

 

[Mezzo.]

This news is amazing. :O

 

[Yelchor]

Maybe... Just -maybe- I will see Humanity taking its first-hand glimpse into space beyond our solar system before perishing.

Mortality is frustrating.

 

[teqrevisited]

Amazing stuff. But we should probably prepare for unforeseen consequences.

 

[Daverson]

Have they discovered if antimatter has antimass? Because, that's really the one thing that would make antimatter... well... "worth it's weight in gold" would be understatement! D=

 

[Eclectic Dreck]

- but one has to crawl before you sprint," said Gabrielse.

Tony Stark dissagrees.

Tony Stark has the advantage of living in a universe where the laws of science and the very nature of the universe itself can be changed on a whim.

 

[theComposer]

Scientists have announced the first successful attempt to trap and hold antimatter atoms.

Am I the only one who immediately thought of Angels and Demons (by Dan Brown) when I read this?

As exciting as this is, I still don't see anitmatter-powered anything being feasible inside our lifetimes. We may need a different fuel source to power our intersolar spacecraft.

 

[Delusibeta]

Okay, I get that this is a big deal and everything, we've never been able to hold antimatter before.

But what can we actually do with it. How the hell do we harness its "energy" to, uh make starships. I'm not a physics nut, so can someone explain this to me? I'm only just finishing my first year Chemistry at uni, and from what little physics-based stuff I was able to get from that, I would have thought something with no net charge would be pretty useless.

When antimatter and matter come in contact, to use super-complicated science terms, they kerplode and convert their mass almost entirely into energy. The biiiiiig problem with antimatter is that, even if we could make enough of the stuff, you would need to use more energy to create it than it would release in a reaction. It'd be great at storing enormous amounts of energy, but it'd waste an even more enormous amount of energy during production.

To use even more super-complicated sciency terms, when anti-matter and matter meet each other, they annihilate[footnote]Yes, that is the scientific term.[/footnote] each other, converting the vast majority of their mass into lots of energy [footnote]Remember E=mc²? [footnote]Note that it's only c that's squared, not the whole mc.[/footnote] That's the formula for converting mass into energy. And considering c is the speed of light...[/footnote]. Obviously, the big glowing problem with trying to store antimatter is that trying to prevent said anti-matter meeting normal matter is bloody hard, considering pretty much all of the Universe we know about is standard matter.

 

[Oilerfan92]

... LOOK !!!! THEYRE CLEARLY EVIL SCIENTISTS TRYING TO DESTROY THE WORLD !!! I KNOW THIS BECAUSE I DONT UNDERSTAND IT, THEREFORE ITS EVIL !!! ALSO, WHY WOULD THEY BLOW UP THE PLANET THEYRE ON ?!?! WHATEVER !!!! SCIENCE IS EVIL !!!

Seriously though, this is pretty cool.

 

[megs1120]

Okay, I get that this is a big deal and everything, we've never been able to hold antimatter before.

But what can we actually do with it. How the hell do we harness its "energy" to, uh make starships. I'm not a physics nut, so can someone explain this to me? I'm only just finishing my first year Chemistry at uni, and from what little physics-based stuff I was able to get from that, I would have thought something with no net charge would be pretty useless.

When antimatter and matter come in contact, to use super-complicated science terms, they kerplode and convert their mass almost entirely into energy. The biiiiiig problem with antimatter is that, even if we could make enough of the stuff, you would need to use more energy to create it than it would release in a reaction. It'd be great at storing enormous amounts of energy, but it'd waste an even more enormous amount of energy during production.

To use even more super-complicated sciency terms, when anti-matter and matter meet each other, they annihilate[footnote]Yes, that is the scientific term.[/footnote] each other, converting the vast majority of their mass into lots of energy [footnote]Remember E=mc²? [footnote]Note that it's only c that's squared, not the whole mc.[/footnote] That's the formula for converting mass into energy. And considering c is the speed of light...[/footnote]. Obviously, the big glowing problem with trying to store antimatter is that trying to prevent said anti-matter meeting normal matter is bloody hard, considering pretty much all of the Universe we know about is standard matter.

Whatevs, poindexter

 

[LTK_70]

So we need a lot more atoms and a lot longer times before it's really useful - but one has to crawl before you jump to Warp 5.

Fixed!

 

[mattttherman3]

WOOO warp drive in 100 years! Fuck einstein and his no faster than light bullshit

 

[Tharwen]

Okay, I get that this is a big deal and everything, we've never been able to hold antimatter before.

But what can we actually do with it. How the hell do we harness its "energy" to, uh make starships. I'm not a physics nut, so can someone explain this to me? I'm only just finishing my first year Chemistry at uni, and from what little physics-based stuff I was able to get from that, I would have thought something with no net charge would be pretty useless.

If you could hold on to the antiatoms for long enough to store them, you could let them annihilate tiny (really tiny, or you won't have any generator left) chunks of matter in controlled bursts.

The enrgy produced from that could then be easily converted and stored.

As an example of how it could work, imagine a typical cylinder engine which has been modified so that its power comes from matter/antimatter annihilation instead of fuel combustion.

 

[orangebandguy]

Then a warp gate opened and daemons came out a killed everyone there.

That's enough of my paranoid 40k thoughts. ^^

 

[Lost In The Void]

Hmmm even as someone who isn't deep into the physics side of science, this is really exciting to see in terms of development, I'm really excited to see where they go from here

 

[pendragon177]

I smell the plot of a Dan Brown novel.