Useless scientists.

[bindeweede]

Blimey!

Brian, thank you. Anti-atoms? For me, I have to say, it is a difficult concept. Star-Trek stuff. But then I have confessed to my scientific ignorance several times here.

Now then, do you believe in chocolate.......? I bought this delicious Lindt stuff today............far more interesting than anti-matter. IMHO.

Also had this thought...... is there an anti-universe?

Hmmm.

[brianp]

I read somewhere once (lol thats almost FOAF info) that they have created about 1 gram (-1 gram?) of anti matter by using a large hadron collider similar to the CERN thing. I dont know how true that is but I wouldnt be suprised if they had at least attempted it.
Good gracious, no. Nothing approaching a gram. It's something of the order of a few picograms (0.000000000 001 grams) per year and even that costs millions.

[Matt]

I read somewhere once (lol thats almost FOAF info) that they have created about 1 gram (-1 gram?) of anti matter by using a large hadron collider similar to the CERN thing. I dont know how true that is but I wouldnt be suprised if they had at least attempted it.

Anti matter as an energy source seems possible on paper.

Yes I've read that too. Of course I have to remember that where I read it, "Angels and Demons" by Dan brown, is a work of fiction and chock full of howlers that make the scientifically trained cringe from here to kingdom come.

Oh and it's not -1 gram. Anti Matter has positive mass. Other properties such as charge are reversed but not mass. Negative mass has been postulated and is required for some esoteric General Relativity solutions that allow "time travel" and "warp drive" however as far as we know it doesn't actually exist.

1 gram of antimatter anihilating with 1 gram of matter will produce and energy output calculated by the famous E=mc2 formula, equivalent to 43 megatonnes of TNT.

[Cuddles]

Also had this thought...... is there an anti-universe?

Hmmm.

No. Anti-matter is a perfectly normal part of this universe.


I read somewhere once (lol thats almost FOAF info) that they have created about 1 gram (-1 gram?) of anti matter by using a large hadron collider similar to the CERN thing. I dont know how true that is but I wouldnt be suprised if they had at least attempted it.

As already mentioned, Angels and Demons is a work of fiction that is not even loosely based in reality. As for attempting to create that much, why would anyone ever bother? Antimatter is used when needed, no-one would ever make it simply for the sake of it. It's used all the time in lots of very basic things. As already mentioned, PET is a common scanning technique using antimatter (hence positron emission tomography). Particle accelerators don't try to create antimatter, they use it. LEP, the accelerator which existed before the LHC, stands for "Large Electron-Positron collider". Antimatter isn't the output, it's the input.


Anti matter as an energy source seems possible on paper.

No it doesn't. Energy storage possibly, but not energy production.

[bobdezon]

Yes I've read that too. Of course I have to remember that where I read it, "Angels and Demons" by Dan brown, is a work of fiction and chock full of howlers that make the scientifically trained cringe from here to kingdom come.

Oh and it's not -1 gram. Anti Matter has positive mass. Other properties such as charge are reversed but not mass. Negative mass has been postulated and is required for some esoteric General Relativity solutions that allow "time travel" and "warp drive" however as far as we know it doesn't actually exist.

1 gram of antimatter anihilating with 1 gram of matter will produce and energy output calculated by the famous E=mc2 formula, equivalent to 43 megatonnes of TNT.

I have never read a book by dan brown to be honest matt, I read it on some science blog some time ago but I cannot recall why it was mentioned or indeed the context of the piece. It just struck me as something I had not heard before and I still remembered it because of that. I remember this from a very long time ago though, I do not think dans book was even written at that time (looking it up it was published 2000)

The -1gram thing was a little joke because its anti matter. I really didnt know what you would measure it in, or even if "anti" whatever had its own measurement system.

[mahakala]

Does anti-matter have mass? If not, how do they weigh it?

[Matt]

Does anti-matter have mass? If not, how do they weigh it?

Yes it does. They weigh it just like they weigh equivalent matter, by detecting the acceleration it experiences when acted on by a known force.

[Cuddles]

Yes it does. They weigh it just like they weigh equivalent matter, by detecting the acceleration it experiences when acted on by a known force.

Just to add a little more detail. Charged particles, whether antimatter or matter, are usually weighed by being fired through a magnetic field. The field causes them to travel in a curved path, the curvature of which depends on the strength of the field, the charge of the particle, the velocity of the particle and the mass of the particle. The field, velocity and charge can all be known in advance, so the mass can be calculated by measuring the curvature.

[mahakala]

So, same electron, reversed charge, is that it?

The universe must be full of anti-matter.

The internet is certainly full of it. >:D