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I just wanted to clear up some of the misconceptions about anti-matter.
First off, antimatter CAN exist under certain conditions. They made a little with a particle accelerator back in the '30s.
Secondly, antimatter doesn't behave oppositely to matter. It actually acts pretty much the same.
Third, antimatter isnt weird green plasmatic stuff or plasmatic at all. It's pretty much just like normal matter but with opposite charges. For example, a normal Proton has a positive charge. An anti-proton has a negative charge. An electron has negative, and a positron (the anti electron) has a positive one.
And finally the reason antimatter has such a big effect on sci-fi is what happens when it hits matter.
-----BOOOOOOOMMMMM-----
It blows up. Both the matter and the antimatter are "canceled out" and turned into a lot of gamma rays. And about 3 million degrees Celsius instantly. Which means antimatter stuff should do REAL POWERFUL DAMAGE to hulls.
(This message has been edited by Mad Bomber (edited 05-14-2000).)
So
Anyway, antimatter just doesn't have the charge flipped; I think the spin or something else is flipped as well. Lemme consult my 'Physics of Star Trek'
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You mean which way the positron goes.
It doesnt matter anyway, the electrons/positrons go so fast they spin in a different direction every 1 trillionth of a second anyway.
And antimatter isnt just sci fi. Like i said, they managed to make some antiprotons with a particle accelerator, and then contain it with magnetic fields.
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Hello ! Hmm, well, electrons don't actually rotate as such; the "spin" of elementary particles is merely a quantum mechanical property. I guess the Naming Commitee ran out of good ideas :). And who says electrons travel fast?? In a normal eletrical circuit (like the one powering your computer), they travel about 1 millimeter per hour. Now THAT'S fast.
Now, as for antimatter, an antiparticle is exactly the same as its "normal" partner except for its charge (and its direction of motion in time). Actually, all antimatter occurs as the result of enough energy being put into one area to change the "virtual" particles of vacuum fluctuations into "real" particles (virtual particles occur in matter/antimatter pairs which annihilate each other almost instantaneously, and the influx of energy pulls these pairs apart long enough for us to detect them). Since you cannot create something from nothing (conservation of mass/energy), the mass is equivalent to the amount of energy put in (ie E=MC squared). So you get the same amount of energy out as you put in. However, if you have a large amount of antimatter (say, a gram), and you annihilate it with 1 gram of matter, you get .0023E83E8 equals 180000000000000 joules. Which is quite a lot of energy. So as you can see, antimatter is a very compact way of storing energy, which is why it's so useful for ship propulsion, hyper travel, and other thing that require a huge amount of energy.
-Machiavelli
I agree. Although i didnt realize that THAT much energy came out of 1 gram each.
I knew something along the lines of 3,000,000 degrees celsius happened tho.
This of course, means that I will have to design some EVO weapons based on antimatter.
Since antimatter is so powerful, maybe it's EV's equivalent of nuclear power - you know, useful for power plants and such, but too insanely destructive to ever use in warfare. Maybe some terrorist group could start using it, though that would be asking to be annihilated by every other group in the galaxy... What do you think?
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Actaully the torpedos in EV are antimatter/matter based weapons. Antimatter only reacts with and equal ammount and type of matter, or someting like that. I don't really know, I suck at Pysics (can't even spell it!)
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Anti-matter is quite like actual "matter" - it is also very powerful stuff. While its behavior is not quite opposite of "matter", its properties are like the name --> anti. Italian scientists recently discovered what they believe is a large concentration of anti-matter in the solar system, which would account for the lost mass during the reaction when the universe was created (because matter can neither be created nor destroyed there has always been a discrepency is where certain amounts of energy went when the universe was first created). Such a large amount of anti-matter floating throughout the universe is not dangerous unless it comes in contact with mass of the same mass. Then you get a reaction that produces as someone said many trillions of joules --> a very big bang --> but without any actual shoot off except for raw energy. Anti-matter is what is created during reactions in which matter is seemingly lost, but as well all know, matter cannot actually go away. It is the bi-product or waste of chemical and physical reactions in the universe. It is also HIGHLY UNSTABLE --> Any weapon that involves anti-matter would have to be kept in a "vortex" such as space, contained in something along the lines of a small black-hole. Of course, to get a black hole to contain such a thing is also virtually impossible, so don't try to do it in your bath tub. Anyway, shouldn't you kids be trying to make nitro glycerine in your tubs or something. That stuff is much more stable, and you can make it with ordinary household products, provided your name is McGiver.
------------------ As I travel through the gates of hell to face the deamons, I know my knife is by my side, and that all hell can't stop me
Quote
Originally posted by BackSTABa: **It is also HIGHLY UNSTABLE **
Uhm, it's just as stable as regular matter, you just can't let it touch regular matter (unless you like big explosions ), and that's why it is held in magnetic chambers that keep it from touching anything. In fact, there could be an alien race that consists of antimatter, so that it would seem to them that we are the ones made of antimatter.
A few years ago I believe the total created in laboritories was about a thimble-full.
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Originally posted by ShadeOfBlue: **Uhm, it's just as stable as regular matter, you just can't let it touch regular matter (unless you like big explosions:) ), and that's why it is held in magnetic chambers that keep it from touching anything. In fact, there could be an alien race that consists of antimatter, so that it would seem to them that we are the ones made of antimatter.
A few years ago I believe the total created in laboritories was about a thimble-full. **
Yup, it was a thimble-full, but it is also highly unstable. Think about where you live, all around you, what is there? Matter. That is why you hold it in a magnetic chamber, because of what it can do. yes it is chemically and physically unstable, but around us, on Earth, it is quite a threat. And yes, and alien race of anti-matter can exist, in fact, how do we know that we infact are not anti-matter, and that what we percieve to be anti-matter, the rest of the galaxy, and the universe, percieves as matter?
Bet you can hurt your head thinking about it too much
Originally posted by ShadeOfBlue: **In fact, there could be an alien race that consists of antimatter, so that it would seem to them that we are the ones made of antimatter.
Ok, call me sick, but just a thought: That could prove to be a difficulty for the few humans or aliens who support and participate in interspecies relationships.
Originally posted by ShadeOfBlue: **A few years ago I believe the total created in laboritories was about a thimble-full. **
Jeez, that much? I've heard that a button-sized (you know, shirt button) would be enough fuel to propel a a fairly heavy payload into space, and then to the moon. (Maybe 10+tons plus the size of your average rocket)
Ok, I'm pretty much the resident physicist in my (small) town, but I don't sit there and work on equations. I just read magazines and tell people all I've learned, giving the appearance of intelligance. Anywho, I have a question:
1. Doesn't the collision 1 atom (or is it a proton etc.?) and 1 anti-atom (or a anti-proton?) release enough energy to light a match?
Thanks!
-Dave
------------------ -- "Do or do not. There is no try." -Yoda
BackSTABa: What I meant is that by itself, it's stable. You can have large amounts of antimatter by itself and it is just as stable as the same amount of matter would be. It only becomes unstable when it is in matter, just as matter only becomes unstable when it is in antimatter.
the lack of understanding of anitmatter is deeply troubling. sci-fi nerds such as ourselves would be well served by a short trip to the books. anitmatter is not "unstable" in the sense that the india/pakistan border is unstable. indeed, if a particle of anitmatter and a corresponding particle of matter meet, they annihilate, releasing energy. both are destroyed. this is how cern, fermilab, and other particle accelerators are able to similate the high-energy conditions of the early universe and create exotic particles. sufficiently energetic gamma rays in fact constantly separate out into electron/positron pairs, usually recolliding before the universe "notices." also remember, mass, energy, and momentum are not preserved, because of uncertainty. quantum physics is not for the faint of heart.
Just my 2 cents
Anti-matter in matter world=not good
Matter in anti-matter world=not good
Anti-matter in anti-matter world=no problem
matter in matter world=no problem
I just did a science report on anti-matter and here is what I found. They have made anti-matter but only particles at a time that last only very small fractions of a second. Currently there is no way to effeciently store anti-matter. And one more thing Anti-matter only explodes if it comes in contact with matter of the same type ie. hydrogen and anti-hydrogen
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Originally posted by Avenger: **Just my 2 cents
matter in matter world=no problem **
Very true.
Originally posted by Avenger: **Just my 2 cents I just did a science report on anti-matter and here is what I found. They have made anti-matter but only particles at a time that last only very small fractions of a second. Currently there is no way to effeciently store anti-matter. And one more thing Anti-matter only explodes if it comes in contact with matter of the same type ie. hydrogen and anti-hydrogen **
As far as I know, this is another common misconception... you don't need an anti-cow to annihilate a cow, nor do you need anti-hydrogen to annihilate hydrogen. The reaction takes place at the sub-atomic level: protons/antiprotons, electrons/positrons, neutrons/antineutrons. Since all regular matter/antimatter is composed of these particles, any contact between macroscopic amounts of matter and antimatter is going to blow up like hell, whatever the chemical composition be.
-- Cinga
(This message has been edited by Cinga (edited 05-16-2000).)
You can also get positrons from decaying radioactive junk. Scientists use them, too. PET (Positron Emission Topography) is used on a regular basis and the scientists basically just inject radioactive junk into the patient's body and the junk release positrons and I forgot what happens after that.
My 2k
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This is all very true. I always know how to make long topics.
Wait a minute if there were anti aliens you could never dock with them. FFFZZZZTTTT BOOM.
Besides if there even are anti aliens their probably in an antimatter galaxy, far far away. Otherwise we'd notice the energy from the particles hitting each other.
Anti bomb. Make cruiser go boom. Me like cruiser go boom.
Minor detail about cows/anti-cows and hydrogen/antihydrogen: The reason for wanting to use similar types of matter/antimatter is to keep the equations balanced. If you have lithium (3 protons, 3 neutrons, 3 electrons) react with anti-uranium (92? anti-protons, about 140 anti-neutrons (IF you can have one, 'cus they have no charge... but it's "anti"matter, not opposite charge), and 92 positrons), you have a major excess of antimatter that flies off into the void. Also, please throw in electromagnetic forces from the positrons spinning about (drawing in the matter with random centers of force) and static electrical repulsion (like poles repel, positrons-protons and electrons-antiprotons) and the nanoscopic force of gravity (mass and negative mass? perhaps, but unsure). It's really a better idea to have all of the variables canceling themselves out with like elements...
Oh yeah: Be very very wary of any organic molecules or anti-molecules. The human body has dozens of various elements within it, including arsenic, oxygen, potassium, iron, magnesium, lithium, etc. etc. etc.
Damnit, my head hurts. I should go do my high school physics homework now.
-Sta7ic
This is much easier to understand than my science class. Quite intresting to read to.
------------------ The reason we know there is Intelligent life in space is that they haven't contacted us.
Originally posted by Sta7ic: If you have lithium (3 protons, 3 neutrons, 3 electrons) react with anti-uranium (92? anti-protons, about 140 anti-neutrons (IF you can have one, 'cus they have no charge... but it's "anti"matter, not opposite charge), and 92 positrons), you have a major excess of antimatter that flies off into the void.
Yeah, till it touches anything else. Heck just letting air touch antimatter would result in an explosion, although if the antimatter atoms had a heavier atomic weight it would take more air than antimatter.
How about stranglets (also called strange matter).... I know some stuff about them, does anybody else?