Cern Scientists Trap First Antimatter Atoms

[SpcyhknBC]

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.

Essentially this, alternatively, think of how a nuclear plant works. It is a slow controlled fission reaction, in this case it would be a slow controlled matter-antimatter annihilation reaction. This would produce heat, which could be used to boil water to make steam to turn turbines which makes electricity.

Ideally, at some point we will discover more efficient ways to turn heat into energy. I believe there exists heat panels, which work like solar panels where they use photons to knock electrons into a circuit. Heat, (infrared radiation) works the same way that all forms of light work. I cannot think of a simple way to directly harness the energy otherwise, but I am not a student of physics, but am one of biochemistry.

 

[zehydra]

Some days you just have to stop and think "Wow, I'm living in the future."


Then, of course, you spend the rest of the day feeling cheated because you don't have Rocketpants.

I'd like rocket pants.

 

[Lullabye]

I smell the plot of a Dan Brown novel.

One of these "unforseen consequences" I've been hearing so much about then?

Honestly, this is so freakin cool.
i need a song to freakin express this.

 

[Infinatex]

For the non-science people out there... like me, what does this mean? Is this anything like that thing in Angels and Demons?

 

[Jamous]

Oooo. This is going to be interesting.

 

[Jamous]

I smell the plot of a Dan Brown novel.

Have you seen Angels and Demons? Not read the book, don't like the way he writes, but the film is centered around that. :L

 

[Nayr]

Just whack some Dilithium in there, sort all your problems out.

OT: That is actually a really big step, beers will be had tonight at CERN. (Physicists do drink beer, right?)

haha they sure do I just saw my astrophysics professor and my lab instructors at the bar!

 

[Mr Godfrey]

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.

Unless we find a more practical way of constructing and storing it... My money's on THAT being a big breakthrough down the road.

 

[Freemon]

This was a triumph!

I'm making a note here

huge success!

It's hard to overstate my satisfaction.

 

[Sporky111]

I'm so happy to see this, CERN has completely overcome any apocalypse controversy. Amazing. I can't wait to see what they do in the months and years to come now that this hurdle has been crossed.

 

[Stephanos132]

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=

Antiparticles have the same mass as their equivalent particles. There has been no discovery of anti or negative mass thus far.

 

[ComicsAreWeird]

yESSSSSSS.....Science FTW!

Ok seriously, this is huge...but its still unstable territory.

 

[Chamale]

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.

To reiterate what others have said before me: When anti-matter contacts regular matter, the reaction turns the mass of both into energy. Remember Einstein's famous equation E=mc^2. A nuclear bomb converts some of the mass of uranium or hydrogen into energy. But an antimatter reaction, converting all of the mass into energy, could be 100 times more potent.

My thoughts: This is useful to make a rocket engine. Recall Newton's Third Law: Every action has an equal and opposite reaction. The action of using an explosion to fling something out the back of a rocket sends the rocket forward. In theory, we could use an antimatter reaction to fling mass out the back of a rocket much faster, which means we wouldn't need as much matter to launch spaceships.



The hierarchy of reactions*: Nuclear reactions are to exothermic chemical reactions as antimatter reactions are to nuclear reactions.

* Not an actual physical law - but chemical reactions can turn inter-atomic bonds into energy, nuclearbombs can turn intra-atomic bonds into energy, and antimatter can just outright turn matter into energy.

 

[Reaganomics]

The crazy dude that is often protesting science outside my university is going to be there tomorrow for sure.

 

[Westaway]

That is amazing.

Fantastic accomplishment. Can't wait to see whats next. Hopefully it doesn't end up exploding everything

But you can say that for every new thing, think positive! Think I hope this PREVENTS everything from being blown up!

 

[Ekonk]

For the non-science people out there... like me, what does this mean? Is this anything like that thing in Angels and Demons?

Well, anti-matter is exactly what the name would suggest: it's matter, but the opposite. When matter and anti-matter come in contact with each other both dissolve in an enormous blast of energy, which, if uncontrolled, would be pretty much a gigantic explosion, destroying everything within a certain radius - depending of how much anti-matter and matter came into contact with each other.

However, with a bit more advanced technology, it would also make a crackin' rocket fuel, as, say, a litre of anti-matter and matter would be able to propel your rocket about a million times further than a litre of traditional rocket fuel.

 

[lewism247]

Aaaaaaaaaaaand

[HEADING=1]SCIENCE!![/HEADING]

OP: They did it?

Daaaaaaaaaaaaamn, this is could lead to massive things.

I'm sure I heard somewhere that time travel could be accomplished with antimatter.....

 

[Admiral Stukov]

So how much longer do I have to wait for my anti-matter warheads?

Err..
I mean unlimeted cheap electric power to all the people on Earth... yes.

 

[Lord Beautiful]

Holy sweet shitbiscuits. I think I have an erection.