Antimatter atom trapped for first time, say scientists

Antimatter atom trapped for first time, say scientists

www.bbc.co.uk

Antimatter atoms have been trapped for the first time, scientists say.

Researchers at Cern, home of the Large Hadron Collider, have held 38 antihydrogen atoms in place, each for a fraction of a second.

Antihydrogen has been produced before but it was instantly destroyed when it encountered normal matter.

The team, reporting in Nature, says the ability to study such antimatter atoms will allow previously impossible tests of fundamental tenets of physics.

(visit the link for the full news article)

Interesting development, I wonder what opportunities this may open as far as clean energy production in the future? And possibly weaponry as well? It will be interesting to see what findings they eventually get from these tests and what the long term spin off's are? Just as interesting will be what other particles they have found and what they may potentially offer as well?

www.bbc.co.uk
(visit the link for the full news article)

The question of the viability of anti-matter storage will now have to be explored. Our first industrial accidents with this material will be historic!

On the optimistic side, the implications are staggering.

for antimatter to do any damage, it has to meet with its exact anti-element. the energy it releases can be massive, or small depending on how many protons-nuetrons-electrons each annhialated atom has. The more of each, the more energy. The more energy, the more destruction. I dont think its likely that we would ever be able to weaponize it, because it would meet with its normal particle before hitting the intended target due to dust in the air, and not being able to control its flight path. even if we slapped it in a bomb, were still only able to hold it in place for micro-seconds at a time. amazing find though OP, but no anti-matter weapons any time soon I can assure you of that lol.

I shudder to think of how many world leaders are hearing this news and thinking "hmm... now THAT could make a hell of a boom!"


ETA: beachguy123,

Here's hoping you're right. I'm not too well-versed in the physics of antimatter; I've always assumed if you could create the stuff you could contain it in a magnetic field in a vaccuum, then turn off the field and boom. I could see how the energy requirements of containing a large enough mass of the stuff could be prohibitive though.

Originally posted by Maxmars
The question of the viability of anti-matter storage will now have to be explored. Our first industrial accidents with this material will be historic!

On the optimistic side, the implications are staggering.

Our first industrial accident with this material may very well be our last.

Which reminds me...When is Cern conducting their next LHC experiment again?

Originally posted by mitman93
Our first industrial accident with this material may very well be our last.

And this is a very very good reason to start getting our butts back out into space again... And not like in the international space station.... No nooo nooo that's too close for comfort, further away, orbiting the sun on it's own would be nice.

Originally posted by Maxmars
The question of the viability of anti-matter storage will now have to be explored. Our first industrial accidents with this material will be historic!

On the optimistic side, the implications are staggering.

Agreed.

My first thought concerned a Chernobyl x10.

On the other side of the coin, the future developments thanks to the study of anti-matter could be simply mind blowing. I can't help but feel as though they're opening Pandora's box however. I just hope there's some goodies in there!

Originally posted by NewlyAwakened
I shudder to think of how many world leaders are hearing this news and thinking "hmm... now THAT could make a hell of a boom!"


ETA: beachguy123,

Here's hoping you're right. I'm not too well-versed in the physics of antimatter; I've always assumed if you could create the stuff you could contain it in a magnetic field in a vaccuum, then turn off the field and boom. I could see how the energy requirements of containing a large enough mass of the stuff could be prohibitive though.

edit on 17-11-2010 by NewlyAwakened because: (no reason given)

It's possible that CERN and other colliders are not telling the truth about the antimatter vanishing, but if they're telling the truth, beachguy123 is correct. You're also correct to assume what world leaders are likely thinking...and they could be paying big bucks to keep colliders' publicists mouths shut about the abilities of anti-matter.

On a footnote: it's been theorized (*cough* hypothesized) that the universe formed when matter and anti-matter "fought"...and that there was equal amounts of each, and that matter "won"...If this hypothesis is true, that would mean that matter would always win to antimatter.

Quite apart from what the idiots in parliments might be thinking, the important thinking on this issue will be from the assorted boffins conducting the creation and storage of this antimatter.
The physics community has been waiting for an oppertunity to study antimatter in detail, because it has subtle effects on matter, and the way it behaves. Without a comprehensive understanding of antimatter, scientists cannot be certain what the results of thier experiments are telling them . I suppose it would be like knowing all the words in the English language, but never using or understanding the use of punctuation! Basicaly , a good solid understanding of the anti particle will give a scientist the contextual appreciation of the meaning of the results of his experiments.

reply to post by NewlyAwakened


That's basically the method discussed in the Dan Brown book, Angels and Demons. Aside from all of the religious stuff in the book, it discusses antimatter and it's possible production, might be worth a revisit in light of this recent news. Not sure how much it is based on fact, Brown himself makes no mention of it's authenticity in the Authors Note but acknowledges CERN in his Acknowledgments at the beginning of the book.

reply to post by solidshot


Sounds like "frankenstein" type science.I wonder if this
"monster" will be just as destructive to us?

Now what?
Anti-Matter bombs; and new propulsion systems
This is truly ground breaking

Star and Flag

To all you guys/girls questioning how they will store Anti Matter|:

patft.uspto.gov.../77098 19&RS=PN/7709819

Anti Matter Containment Unit (Patent)

From this previous thread several months ago - I should have ties these together a lot sooner....

www.abovetopsecret.com... Posted by Gools


Regards play nicely !!!

reply to post by beachguy123


Actually, electrons and anti-electrons (for instance) will result in annihilation, releasing the equivalent of their rest masses in pure energy (according to Einstein's E=mc^2), thus once this anti-matter can be stored, harvesting energy from the process would be a bang and the chances of unintentional annihilation would be great.





--airspoon