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Dec. 1, 2008 -- Blasting a gold target with high-powered lasers creates huge amounts of antimatter, reported scientists.
A steady supply of the antimatter particles, known as positrons, is a big step towards solving some fundamental mysteries, such as why more matter than antimatter survived the Big Bang at the start of the universe. A supply of antimatter could also be used in creating a new generation of tools for fields as diverse as astrophysics and medicine.
"This is the first substantial source of antimatter using lasers," said Hui Chen of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.
Substantial indeed. The California researchers estimate that with every shot of their laser, which fires every 30 minutes, they create about 10 billion positrons, also called anti-electrons. That's several orders of magnitude more than the other two existing sources of positrons: natural radioactive decay and large linear accelerators.
Source
Originally posted by zephyrs
I'm confused. I thought if antimatter reacting with matter equals a big kaboom? Don't these positrons that created interact with matter afterwards?
Originally posted by dashen
Hooray!, we're one step closer to anti-matter bombs! There goes the galaxy. Oh, well, I'm sure this will be used for peaceful applications first. Not.
Originally posted by dashen
Hooray!, we're one step closer to anti-matter bombs! There goes the galaxy. Oh, well, I'm sure this will be used for peaceful applications first. Not.
[edit on 2-12-2008 by dashen]
Originally posted by rickyrrr
reply to post by enduser
Unless otherwise specified, I assume that the net energy that can be extracted from the newly created antimatter would equal the energy delivered by the laser. Right?
The energy per unit mass (9×1016 J/kg) is about 10 orders of magnitude greater than chemical energy, about 4 orders of magnitude greater than nuclear energy that can be liberated using nuclear fission, and about 2 orders of magnitude greater than the best possible form of fusion.
The reaction of 1 kg of antimatter with 1 kg of matter would produce 1.8×1017 J (180 petajoules) of energy (by the mass-energy equivalence formula E = mc²), or the rough equivalent of 47 megatons of TNT. For comparison, Tsar Bomba, the largest nuclear weapon ever detonated, reacted an estimated yield of 50 Megatons, which required the use of hundreds of kilograms of fissile material (Uranium/Plutonium).Source
The popular belief is that an antimatter particle coming in contact with its matter counterpart yields energy. That's true for electrons and positrons (anti-electrons). They'll produce gamma rays at 511,000 electron volts.
But heavier particles like protons and anti-protons are somewhat messier, making gamma rays and leaving a spray of secondary particles that eventually decay into neutrinos and low-energy gamma rays.
And that is partly what Schmidt and others want in an antimatter engine. The gamma rays from a perfect reaction would escape immediately, unless the ship had thick shielding, and serve no purpose. But the charged debris from a proton/anti-proton annihilation can push a ship. Source
Originally posted by rickyrrr
reply to post by enduser
Unless otherwise specified, I assume that the net energy that can be extracted from the newly created antimatter would equal the energy delivered by the laser. Right?
-rrr
Originally posted by RFBurns
Do any of you realize what kind of power an anti-matter explosion would produce? Does anyone really think that creating an anti-matter bomb will be just some fancy type of nuke and wont affect your backyard?
Blow up half the damned planet why dont you!!! Cuz thats what will happen in an anti-matter expolosion.
Cheers!!!!
I think this is a very good point. This would explain alot of things in my opinion. I've always wondered why gold has tended to bear so much importance over the world's history. I know it's shiny as all get-out, a good conductor and all that, but our very lives revolve around it vicariously through our currency.
Originally posted by Helmkat
Maybe this is the reason UFO's hang out around our wateringhole. Gold is pretty and all that but imagine if it is the "petrol" of spacefaring civilizations. Now imagine some goverment making a deal to exchange gold for tech...