Jack Kilby (TI) won the Nobel Prize in physics in 2000 for his invention of the solid state intergrated circuit. (computer chip)
Posted on 02/20/2002 5:52:00 PM PST by blam
Physicists claim antimatter breakthrough
Physicists in Switzerland say they have captured antimatter for the first time.
Scientists have often wondered whether they can get energy from the reaction when antimatter and matter collide.
Until now they have found it difficult to make and control antiatoms.
Researchers on the ATRAP experiment at CERN, the European Laboratory for Particle Physics near Geneva, now think they have succeeded.
New Scientist reports they have made and stored thousands of antiatoms indefinitely in a particle trap.
The team, led by Gerald Gabrielse of Harvard University, used powerful magnetic and electric fields to slow and trap antiprotons and antielectrons.
He isn't sure how many atoms are trapped but says not enough energy would be produced to warm a small cup of coffee.
Story filed: 19:02 Wednesday 20th February 2002
Also a big step closer to a Star Wars Deathstar type planetary destroyer. I don't think that we have a lot of spare inhabited planets at the moment either.
What have they reallycome up with since the bomb?
umm... solid-state semiconductors? (without which, none of us would have cheap, powerful, computers with which to log onto FreeRepublic!) :-)
This is interesting.
Physicist Jack Kilby (TI) invented the intergrated circuit (computer chip) in 1957.
Next: Antimatter beams?
Remember, people don't kill people... antimatter beams do! ;-)
Not quiet ready to power the warp engines yet.
From http://www.math.toronto.edu/mathnet/plain/questionCorner/antimatter.html
Before explaining what antiatoms are, it would benefit some of our readers to explain what particles and antiparticles are. As most of us know, most matter that we can see is made up of atoms which are in turn composed of various combinations of three particles: electrons, protons, and neutrons. These three particles, together with a wide variety of other more obscure particles, are the basis for all matter.
It has been found that for each of these particles, there is a dual "antiparticle." The dual of the electron is called the positron, while the duals of the proton and the neutron are simply called antiprotons and antineutrons. Antiparticles behave very much the same as ordinary particles. They have the same mass as their particle counterparts, but the charge of an antiparticle is opposite the charge of the corresponding particle.
Just as protons, electrons, and neutrons often cluster together to form atoms, antiprotons, positrons, and antineutrons can combine to form antiatoms. The properties of antimatter are very similar to that of normal matter. While only very basic antiatoms like antihydrogen have been made in laboratories, some scientists believe that there may be entire galaxies composed almost entirely of antimatter.
Perhaps the most interesting thing about antimatter is what it does when it comes in contact with normal matter. When a particle collides with its antiparticle counterpart, the two annihilate each other and give off a burst of energy. The amount of energy given off is given by Einstein's famous formula E = mc^2 where E is energy in Joules, m is the mass in kilograms and c = 3 x 10^8 m/sec is the speed of light. Similarly, when atoms and antiatoms collide, they also destroy one another and release energy. To give an idea of just how much energy is produced, consider a paper clip (about 1 g in mass) combining with an antipaperclip. The energy produced would be E = (2 x 10^(-3))(9 x 10^(16))=1.8 x 10^(14) Joules. For the sake of comparison, it takes about 3 x 10^9 Joules to power a 100 Watt light bulb for a year.
Jack Kilby (TI) won the Nobel Prize in physics in 2000 for his invention of the solid state intergrated circuit. (computer chip)
Positrons were captured at least two years ago and held for a duration in excess of 6 months.
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