Scientists Claim Antimatter Breakthrough

Ananova ^ | 9-18-2002

[BenLurkin]

Would matter/anti-matter reactions create energy? Would it be safer than nuclear power?

[capt. norm]

But does it really matter?

[mikegi]

How long until Bodansky claims that some of the antimatter is missing and was sold to Al Qaeda?

[ShadowAce]

It's this process which provides the power source for Starship Enterprise in its film and TV space adventures.

All right!! Time to go where no man has gone before!!!

[Aric2000]

Whoa,

Antimatter energy makes atomic energy look tiny.

The energy released from the collision of Antimatter and matter will be incrdible.

If that were harnessed, just like in Star Trek, the energy potential is beyond imagination.

In 20 years they would be talking about how the saddams of the world are trying to get hold of antimatter bombs, now THAT would be scary!!

[KayEyeDoubleDee]

It's this process which provides the power source for Starship Enterprise in its film and TV space adventures.

Well, duh!?!

[Free the USA]

Index Bump

[andy58-in-nh]

How long until Bodansky claims that some of the antimatter is missing and was sold to Al Qaeda?

How long until Scott Ritter denies it?

[mlo]

Would matter/anti-matter reactions create energy? Would it be safer than nuclear power?

Yes, but it's a safe bet that more energy was spent to produce the anti-matter than would be released in a matter/anti-matter reaction.

[Pearls Before Swine]

Antimatter energy makes atomic energy look tiny.

Indeed it does. Both are based on the equivalence between matter and energy. In atomic energy--whether fission or fusion--it is only the differences in the masses of the before and after products that are converted to energy. The percentage difference as a mass fraction is fairly small. In a matter/antimatter collision, everything is converted to energy!

[Jack of all Trades]

Gotta love a tech article that references Star Trek technology. Follow this link for more info Thousands of cold anti-atoms produced at CERN

[aristeides]

it's a safe bet that more energy was spent to produce the anti-matter than would be released in a matter/anti-matter reaction.

I think that's probably true. But, even if it is, wouldn't it be useful to have such a concentrated source of energy?

[HEY4QDEMS]

"Antimatter is a reverse form of ordinary matter. When the two kinds of matter meet they annihilate each other in an enormous burst of energy"

If only they had discovered "anti-Clinton"

[Doctor Stochastic]

Yes, No.

The cost of generating the anti-matter would still be greater than the net energy gain.

[Poohbah]

Scientists have announced the first large-scale production of antimatter.

A team based at the European Organisation for Nuclear Research in Geneva say they have developed a large amount of the substance.

In unrelated news, Geneva disappeared in an enormous explosion, with an estimated yield of almost six gigatons. This is 100 times as powerful as the largest nuclear detonation recorded, which was in 1961 off of the island of Novaya Zemlya.

A scientist at FermiLab, in Illinois, was on the telephone with a researcher the CERN lab at the time of the explosion. He states that the last words he heard on the phone before the detonation were "Hey, Hans, HOLD MUH BEER AND WATCH THIS!"

[scouse]

In a matter/antimatter collision, everything is converted to energy!

Something like the Hormone Replacement Stuff that Art Bell advertises. :^))

[Frank_Discussion]

ouch...

[SkyRat]

Would matter/anti-matter reactions create energy?

It would relase a lot of energy. A matter <-> anti-matter reaction is 100% mass to energy transformation. A nuclear bomb on the other hand only transforms around 8% of it's mass.


Would it be safer than nuclear power?

No. Any contact between normal and anti matter is big firework. The only way to contain antimatter is by some sort of magnetic trap.

[Joe Brower]

Antimatter, shantimatter -- what I want to know is if pasta and antipasta meet, do they mutually annihilate?

Last time I went to the Olive Garden for dinner, I heard and saw things that led me to believe that this is so...