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Fermilab Antimatter Lab to Hold Limited Tours

Posted by michael on from the no-free-samples dept.

chigun writes "Fermilab is shutting down its normal operations for maintenance for 9 weeks and during this time will be conducting tours of its facilities. The fact that they are the only people capable of producing antimatter is pretty cool as well."

8 of 24 comments (clear)

  1. TOURS ARE FULL by hucke · · Score: 5, Informative


    The tours are full - no more registrations are being accepted.

    The answering machine on the phone number given in the Sun-Times article indicates that there is no more space available.

  2. Only in the world to produce antimatter by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

    Yeah, right! http://livefromcern.web.cern.ch/livefromcern/antim atter/factory/AM-factory00.html

    1. Re:Only in the world to produce antimatter by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

      From the site (after removing the extra space) "will produce" Guess what? That's future tense.

  3. anti-matter everywhere by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

    The fact that they are the only people capable of producing antimatter is pretty cool as well.

    Well not really a fact.
    I remember experiements with positrons (anti-electrons) in undergraduate physics.
    As for anti-protons, they can be produced at other places, ie CERN.

    1. Re:anti-matter everywhere by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

      The accepted definition of anti-matter is not anti-particles, its at least anti-hydrogen atoms. Cern only does anti-particles at present.

    2. Re:anti-matter everywhere by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

      Wrong wrong wrong. I've worked with high energy physicists, have gone to lectures given by them, and have taken classes from them. The term antimatter as used by physicists, the only ones for whom this really matters, means any antiparticle, including positrons, antiprotons, anti-up-quarks, anti-bottom quarks, etc.

      When you're talking about mesons there are rather arbitrary definitions as to which are matter and which are antimatter, since all mesons are made of 1 quark and 1 antiquark. The B0 meson, for example, is made of 1 down quark and 1 anti-bottom quark. The anti B0 (B0 bar, to coin the phrase) is 1 anti-down and 1 bottom.

  4. Re:The only people capable of producing antimatter by erichill · · Score: 5, Informative
    CERN has been producing antihydrogen with their Antimater Factory. To be fair, Fermilab has been making antihydrogen too.

    Folks around the world have been producing antiparticles for quite some time. They're also created by natural processes, but don't last long in high matter density environments.

    --
    Credo sim. - I think I am.
  5. PPPL Family Fun Day by the+eric+conspiracy · · Score: 2, Informative

    I went to the Princeton Plasma Physics Lab Family Fun Day once. Really cool to tours the labs there. If you can go to one of these kinds of things I would highly recommend it.