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Antimatter Factory Starts Work

Posted by Hemos on from the power-up dept.

doctor_oktagon writes: "The BBC are reporting that 'Scientists at Europe's biggest high-energy physics laboratory have built an "antimatter factory" to study why the world is made of matter, not its mirror image.' This looks like pretty exciting stuff! They slow 'anti-proton' particles down to 1/10th light speed, mix them with protons, and then hope to study the result: antihydrogen. This will hopefully give them insight into why the universe is made of matter, and not antimatter, though I guess this is all relative to your persective! Go here to read the BBC News article in full"

7 comments

  1. How would they store it? by oren · · Score: 1
    Anyone has an idea how they are going to handle the resulting anti-Hydrogen? I know there are devices which can hold just anti-protons for a long time using magnetic fields, but how would you prevent anti-Hydrogen from touching normal matter? AFAIK, (anti-)Hydrogen isn't even magnetic.


    I also wonder what their efficiency is (energy invested vs. energy captured in the anti-matter). Anti-matter is very useful (Robert L. Forward lists examples in his book "Indistinguishable from Magic").


    And for anyone worried they'll make bombs out of it, don't. We haven't reached the limit on the size of an H-bomb yet (assuming there is one. Think "the sun" :-) Fusion is already an overkill for any "practical" purpose anyway. So what if they manage to replicate the same bomb power using another technology? Who would you use it against, anyway?


    On the other hand, if we could build those super-efficient rockets...

  2. Re:I pray.... by CptnHarlock · · Score: 1

    Ahh.. You mean something like a BFG... :)
    --
    "No se rinde el gallo rojo, sólo cuando ya está muerto."

    --
    $HOME is where the .*shrc is
    -- silver_p
  3. It's Positron, not Proton... by QuantumFTL · · Score: 1

    When one mixes Anti-Protons with Protons, they get a flash of light as the pair anhiliates (well, there's lots of other fun particles involved, but that's the end result). The article states that they mix protons with Positrons, which are the antiparticle of Electrons. This gives us the anti-hydrogen. Names are very important in Particle Physics :)

    1. Re:It's Positron, not Proton... by cajun603 · · Score: 1

      Good point. Hmm, wonder if it would be possible to make a hydrogen molecule with one hydrogen atom and one anti-hydrogen atom... Talk about an unstable molecule!!!! BTW, nice to see a first post that is actually informative... :-) -cajun

    2. Re:It's Positron, not Proton... by cronack · · Score: 1

      I am not a quantum mechanics expert, but I think an H and anti-H pair would annihilate and release energy. It would be a small atomic bomb. I think.

      --

      this is a left handed sig
  4. I'm against it by ezra_s · · Score: 1

    If a particle of popsicle
    that is positivly charged
    Meets an anti-popsicle
    particle at-large
    Will my popsicle proceed
    to present sed positive pop
    With parabolic postulates
    presumably preconcieved?
    Or is the prig who
    sold the popsicle
    Trying to play with
    particle physics?

  5. Re:I pray.... by iktos · · Score: 1

    It's not at all clear antimatter bombs could actually work as "bombs" rather than the much more likely "giant fizzle with lots of gamma rays". The problem is getting enough matter in contact with the antimatter in short enough time, as radiation pressure from that which does would force the rest apart. The gamma rays would be absorbed by the atmosphere over some tens of meters, maybe leading to a pretty violent thermal plume, but hardly concentrated enough to be called an "explosion".