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Antimatter atoms produced and trapped at CERN

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Re: Antimatter atoms produced and trapped at CERN

#61

Post by panacea »

rubypay wrote: post #47
aik wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

With what purpose? How would such a thing act?

For its size, it would be many times more powerful than a hydrogen bomb, by several magnitudes.

Because we need a bigger deterrent that complete loss of life on earth via hydrogen bomb?

Re: Antimatter atoms produced and trapped at CERN

#65

Post by jonhohle »

ars wrote: post #21
jonhohle wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I won the auction, and all I got was this stupid matter! (ex-antimatter == !(!matter) == matter)

Your equation is wrong. Why are you negating matter twice? If you have anti-matter it will annihilate with matter making gamma rays. Those gamma rays can then participate in pair production making an electron and an anti-electron (positron), but that only happens in a strong magnetic field. That positron will then annihilate again if it meets an electron (maybe even the same one, but it doesn't have to be). Which wou…

It was a joke based on the english meaning of the words and was not meant to be scientifically accurate.

Re: Antimatter atoms produced and trapped at CERN

#66

Post by brehaut »

eru wrote: post #51
crocowhile wrote: post #44

Earlier 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.

Everybody makes bad choices in life, the important thing is to learn from them.

Re: Antimatter atoms produced and trapped at CERN

#67

Post by juiceandjuice »

rubypay wrote: post #47
aik wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

With what purpose? How would such a thing act?

For its size, it would be many times more powerful than a hydrogen bomb, by several magnitudes.

Only because the mass to energy conversion is 100%. But, if you factored in the size of whatever object you use to contain the antimatter, then your mass to energy conversion is probably comparable to a hydrogen bomb. Further, factor in the the energy required to contain the antimatter and it seems like it's losing proposition, probably until you start to approach the size of a small house or larger.

So then the argument turns into critical mass vs. critical structure mass.

Anyways, the technique they used is much more interesting than the fact that it's antimatter. Of course, CERN still has to play the PR game too just like anybody else, and I don't fault them for that.

Re: Antimatter atoms produced and trapped at CERN

#68

Post by CamperBob »

panacea wrote: post #61
rubypay wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For its size, it would be many times more powerful than a hydrogen bomb, by several magnitudes.

Because we need a bigger deterrent that complete loss of life on earth via hydrogen bomb?

Well, we can't allow a positron-trap gap, now can we?
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