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Scientists Create Di-positronium Molecules
doxology writes "The BBC reports that scientists have been able to create di-positronium molecules. A di-positronium molecule consists of two positronium atoms, exotic atoms which are made from an electron and a positron (the anti-particle of the electron). A potential use of these molecules is to make extremely powerful gamma-ray lasers, possibly on sharks."
Hey! You're supposed to let US make the jokes.
If you're going to include all the applicable memes in the blurb, there'll be nothing left for us to post about.
If ever there was a topic which he could explain it would be this.
liqbase
No, we've seen the Austin Powers films.
Dr. Evil: You know, I have one simple request. And that is to have sharks with frickin' laser beams attached to their heads! Now evidently my cycloptic colleague informs me that that cannot be done. Ah, would you remind me what I pay you people for, honestly? Throw me a bone here! What do we have?
Its an Austin Powers joke. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0118655/quotes/
From the end of the summary, the very end in fact:
[...],possibly on sharks Can the author of the news please elaborate? I just don't see how this discovery possibly relates to an undeservedly frowned upon species of fish...
Well, I'm not sure if letting the military get their hands on it is such a good thing, but the use to initiate nuclear fusion could be the key to cleaner power for everyone. The hardest part of initiating fusion has been pouring enough energy in to start the reaction and allow it to become self-sustaining. This discovery might lead to technology capable of generating the necessary energy.
GetOuttaMySpace - The Anti-Social Network
what would happen if Scotty reversed the polarity on those?
Oh, yeah, it's not easy to pad these out to 120 characters.
TFA fails to confirm whether or not this involved a series of tubes. I think we need to explain to our tiny scientist the difference between a tub and a toilet. Someone else will have to explain that French thing that shoots water at yer bum.
Kwisatz Haderach
Sell the spice to CHOAM
This Mahdi took Shaddam's Throne
Or cancer.
A gamma-ray laser would certainly have many applications. Maybe the energy density is so high that it becomes irrelevant, but the problem that jumps out at me is that you really can't refract high-energy photons. About all you can do is stop them. I don't see this type of "laser" being used in most applications where you traditionally think lasers would be useful, since you wouldn't be able to easily focus these beams, guide them in fiber, or anything like that. The most useful thing you could do with this type of laser, I would guess, would be ablation--THAT it should be pretty darn good at.
Anyhow, it'll be interesting to see the radiometry for these lasers in however many years it'll take for them to be in a position where they can even think about that sort of thing. From that, you can figure out the dosimetry if you were to turn one onto a person. In this situation, a medical linac should be to this sort of thing what a flashlight is to a laser in terms of photon flux. When you're talking about gamma photons instead of visible ones, I imagine you could give someone a pretty serious radiation dose in pretty short order. From a military perspective I don't think that putting that in a hand-held weapon would exactly rival bullets (which are pretty good at disabling people quickly, something that radiation couldn't do reliably barring stupidly high doses over large areas of the brain or GI), especially considering the cost. Putting one on a satellite and blasting ICBMs in orbit, however, could be a very different story--you don't have nearly as much atmosphere to get through, and you ought to be able to put an awful lot more energy in that missile with similar fluxes of gamma photons versus lower-energy photons. The gammas would probably significantly penetrate the housing of the missile, too, which could be good or bad--bad in that it spreads out the heating effect you'd get, good in that you can significantly heat things that are behind a few layers of metal.
Come to think of it, considering that medical linacs have caused serious burns (and then death from ARS) in the past, turning a gamma laser on someone would probably basically burn right through them--so maybe dosimetry really isn't an issue (for the target--for the operators, on the other hand...)
Anyhow, that's way in the future. For now, all we have are jokes about sharks that can turn people into the Hulk from ten meters.
Whatever, just make sure he knows the difference between the tub and the toilet before you invite him to your next party. Don't ask for details, just trust me on this one.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
I read the article and I still don't get it. How can these positronium atoms possibly be stable? TFA says that they've "merged an electron and a positron", which is impossible, because when the electron and the positron touch, there's a relatively large explosion.
... one of the particles has to be orbiting the other, like a regular atom. But wouldn't it blow up just the same if, say, a stray cosmic ray or a neutrino or something were to smack the nucleus? IIRC, photons are more like normal matter than antimatter.
So
Any particle physicists in the house who want to enlighten us?
"These short-lived, hydrogen-like atoms consist of an electron and a positron, a positively charged antiparticle." I would think that an anti-proton and a positron (anti-electron) would be a "hydrogen-like atom." Why is the mating of an electron and an anti-electron considered an "atom?" And what force is keeping them from just annihilating each other? Why do they hook up and hang out, even for a brief time? I read about this on fark and got confused but came here to ask. So please, smart people of Slashdot, explain this to me.
So positronium is an atom composed of an electron and a positron. Is this then an atom without a nucleus?
Weird.
Happy people make bad consumers.
Although dipositronium (Ps2) is considered to be a huge advance, scientists will be disappointed to discover that tripositronium (Ps3) will never be as popular as tungsten-diiodide (WII).
Kwisatz Haderach
Sell the spice to CHOAM
This Mahdi took Shaddam's Throne
Or cancer. I realized long ago that the Marvel universe is identical to our own except for one fundamental detail: In our universe, when a freak accident occurs, people die. In the Marvel universe, they get super big, super strong, and oddly colored.
You can't take the sky from me...
Land shark, I mean, Pizza...
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comics in the marvel universe must be pretty depressing, and short.
sigs are hazardous to your health
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