Earlier quoted context omitted.
Why?
Cheap literature says so ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angels_%26_Demons )
I had hoped that less people on HN are familiar with Dan Brown's books.
Antimatter atoms produced and trapped at CERN
51–60 of 95 posts
Re: Antimatter atoms produced and trapped at CERN
#52Next, suspend it in a mercury-like globule between two battery-powered magnetic plates, and place it beneath the Vatican...
Why?
To play a little devil's advocate, a lot of progress starts out with weapons. If we ever become a space-faring society, having more powerful weapons could possibly be a good thing. Space is big and we have no idea what's out there ( I'm not talking about aliens, but they could be there too. ) Though I do agree that as a terrestrial race, we have no need for weapons like this.
Re: Antimatter atoms produced and trapped at CERN
#53Next, suspend it in a mercury-like globule between two battery-powered magnetic plates, and place it beneath the Vatican...
Although the cost to create antimatter is very high, our government is actually working on creating antimatter munitions. (I've worked on creating a portable antimatter trap, which was funded by the U.S. government.)
I call bullshit. The cost is not "very high", it's astronomically high.
My advisor also worked on creating antimatter traps at government labs, but none of the projects had any kind of defense related purposes.
There are only a handful of interesting research questions about antimatter that exist at reasonable scales. Most of those are either fundamental physics or medical in nature.
EDIT: Looks like there has been some Air Force funding for positron traps for defense purposes. Never underestimate the insanity of some generals. I think my physics comments still stand, though.
Re: Antimatter atoms produced and trapped at CERN
#54Earlier quoted context omitted.
Cheap literature says so ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angels_%26_Demons )
I had hoped that less people on HN are familiar with Dan Brown's books.
Off topic but I had a very interesting experience reading Dan Brown. I read 'The da Vinci Code' without knowing anything about it or Brown, and I really enjoyed reading it. Then I saw the movie and I immediately recognized the massive holes in the plot, holes that I never saw while reading it. It surprised me.
Re: Antimatter atoms produced and trapped at CERN
#55I hope they will finally definitely answer if anti-matter also has anti-gravity. Not a single scientist thinks it does, but it's one of those things you just want confirmed.
Antimatter has opposite charge, not opposite mass. It has the exact same magnitude and sign of gravitational interaction as normal matter. It's never been directly observed, but I'm not aware of any models that predict otherwise. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gravitational_interaction_of_an... Maybe you're thinking of exotic matter? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exotic_matter
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Re: Antimatter atoms produced and trapped at CERN
#56Gosh, it sure would be nice if the actual scientific results weren't locked behind a paywall...if I paid taxes in the EU I'd be pissed.
Re: Antimatter atoms produced and trapped at CERN
#57Earlier quoted context omitted.
Wheeler invoked this concept to explain the identical properties shared by all electrons, suggesting that "they are all the same electron" with a complex, self-intersecting worldline. Quantum mechanics is so cool!
If I remember correctly, Feynman quickly suggested to Wheeler that this is probably wrong, as it would imply that there are as many positrons as electrons. At least in our little piece of the universe, this is definitely not the case.
If the universe has toroidal topology, then the Big Bang is connected to the Big Crunch, and the number of positrons doesn't have to equal the number of electrons.
Of course, dark energy makes that all impossible.
Re: Antimatter atoms produced and trapped at CERN
#58Earlier quoted context omitted.
Although the cost to create antimatter is very high, our government is actually working on creating antimatter munitions. (I've worked on creating a portable antimatter trap, which was funded by the U.S. government.)
I call bullshit. The cost is not "very high", it's astronomically high. My advisor also worked on creating antimatter traps at government labs, but none of the projects had any kind of defense related purposes. There are only a handful of interesting research questions about antimatter that exist at reasonable scales. Most of those are either fundamental physics or medical in nature. EDIT: Looks like there has been s…
I call bullshit. The cost is not "very high", it's astronomically high.
(Comments like this make me want to stop reading Hacker News.) Just because the "gunpowder" is expensive doesn't stop the production of containment vessels or delivery mechanisms:
http://articles.sfgate.com/2004-10-04/news/17447495_1_antima...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antimatter_weapon
Additionally, "antimatter" can include positrons, which are much cheaper to produce than antiprotons.
My advisor also worked on creating antimatter traps at government labs, but none of the projects had any kind of defense related purposes.
Your advisor may not have been involved in all imaginable projects related to antimatter.
There are only a handful of interesting research questions about antimatter that exist at reasonable scales. Most of those are either fundamental physics or medical in nature.
Along with research into directly producing weapons, antimatter can also be used to initiate (micro)fusion, and has been researched for space travel: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antimatter_catalyzed_nuclear_pu...
Re: Antimatter atoms produced and trapped at CERN
#59Earlier quoted context omitted.
Although the cost to create antimatter is very high, our government is actually working on creating antimatter munitions. (I've worked on creating a portable antimatter trap, which was funded by the U.S. government.)
I call bullshit. The cost is not "very high", it's astronomically high. My advisor also worked on creating antimatter traps at government labs, but none of the projects had any kind of defense related purposes. There are only a handful of interesting research questions about antimatter that exist at reasonable scales. Most of those are either fundamental physics or medical in nature. EDIT: Looks like there has been s…
Antimatter munitions scare me personally because they're a fail-deadly weapon. If the positron trap fails it goes kaboom. If a thermonuclear bomb fails in any way except a precisely calculated implosion you at worst you get a fissle, at best a guy in Whateveristan in the year 2040 gets his roof collapsed by a slightly radioactive dud.
I hope, the only thing these are being designed for is some gamma-ray laser for a new ground based Star Wars system and not as an actual munition of any sort. The complications are astronomical, especially given that gamma-rays are the EMP-producing portion of a nuclear reaction. An positron trap light enough to be contained in a weapon going off without a tamper to produce an explosion from the gamma-ray heating could be devastating for a modern society.
I'd never call playing god with this shit, I call playing stupid.
Re: Antimatter atoms produced and trapped at CERN
#60Earlier quoted context omitted.
Wheeler invoked this concept to explain the identical properties shared by all electrons, suggesting that "they are all the same electron" with a complex, self-intersecting worldline. Quantum mechanics is so cool!
If I remember correctly, Feynman quickly suggested to Wheeler that this is probably wrong, as it would imply that there are as many positrons as electrons. At least in our little piece of the universe, this is definitely not the case.
Maybe we haven't seen the positrons yet because they're still traveling back in time from the future!