# [Wired] CERN traps antimatter atoms for 16 minutes



## TwistedDivision

Sorry this is my first news thing, and hope it's not a repeat.
Quote:


> Now the team has repeated the experiment, but kept the atoms trapped in the magnetic snare for 1,000 seconds -- just under 17 minutes.


http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2011-05/4/cern-traps-antimatter-for-16-minutes

Hope I did it right, and pretty interesting.


----------



## james_ant

One step closer to building a warp engine.


----------



## cl04k3d

If I fuse myself with antimatter, well then it wouldn't really matter.


----------



## nmdehaan

Good news! Thanks for posting. Please format your title properly though
[Source] Title should be the format. Can't wait til my 3d transistors are powered by antimatter!!!


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## MechanicalHand

Anti Pizza to be delivered


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## TwistedDivision

Quote:



Originally Posted by *nmdehaan*


Good news! Thanks for posting. Please format your title properly though
[Source] Title should be the format. Can't wait til my 3d transistors are powered by antimatter!!!


Sorry, but how do I do that?


----------



## KBcobra

Quote:



Originally Posted by *cl04k3d*


If I fuse myself with antimatter, well then it wouldn't really matter.


Iseewhatyoudidthere.jpg


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## fl0w3n

I think you need the source in the title...

But that is awesome. I look forward to seeing more results from them.


----------



## lordikon

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Vagrant Storm;13380265*
> *finally, some good news that doesn't involve kiddy porn or lawsuits.*
> 
> This...is cool


There's good news that involves kiddy porn or lawsuits?


----------



## cl04k3d

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *lordikon;13380308*
> There's good news that involves kiddy porn or lawsuits?


You eat pieces of crap for breakfast?


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## Xibalba

Awesome news, Go CERN!

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Cave Johnson*

"If the laws of physics don't apply in the future, then god help you."


----------



## nmdehaan

Quote:



Originally Posted by *TwistedDivision*


Sorry, but how do I do that?


I think its edit then advanced. You should be able to edit the title then. Not sure though, mods any help?


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## nmdehaan

found this on another post.

click edit then "Go Advanced"


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## blackbalt89

Keep the antimatter away from the Vatican, please?

We all know how that went last time.


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## weidass

Hmm. I wonder if this will increase UFO activity? If there are aliens watching us, then creating antimatter and holding it for 15 Mins would probably catch their attention.

Think First Contact. Except its not warp drive, just antimatter.


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## FreakaZoidDK

Woooooow ... I like ..


----------



## darthjoe229

Can I make a processor out of it and overclock it?


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## blackbalt89

Quote:



Originally Posted by *darthjoe229*


Can I make a processor out of it and overclock it?


In Soviet Russia Antimatter would overclock YOU!


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## DrDarkTempler

This isn't a good news, althought is a techologictical achivement...

Bring Antimatter into a Matter create a chaotic scenario. if anti matter accidental touch something that is matter, it can explode...

I heard (from wiki last time i saw 2 yrs ago lol) a few gram of antimatter touches matter = big atomic size boom, then i could be wrong!


----------



## timma100

Quote:



Originally Posted by *cl04k3d*


If I fuse myself with antimatter, well then it wouldn't really matter.



Mind = blown


----------



## Trooper1881

but this was only one particle nothing to worry about


----------



## dave12

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *DrDarkTempler;13381105*
> This isn't a good news, althought is a techologictical achivement...
> 
> Bring Antimatter into a Matter create a chaotic scenario. if anti matter accidental touch something that is matter, it can explode...
> 
> I heard (from wiki last time i saw 2 yrs ago lol) a few gram of antimatter touches matter = big atomic size boom, then i could be wrong!


A few grams of anti matter would be a big boom but this is a few atoms relatively small boom.


----------



## nukefission

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Vagrant Storm;13380265*
> finally, some good news that doesn't involve kiddy porn or lawsuits.
> 
> This...is cool


lol
Nice
Screw fusion
antimatter reactors FTW


----------



## CreepyDan

Quote:



Originally Posted by *dave12*


A few grams of anti matter would be a big boom but this is a few atoms relatively small boom.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j8WLY...tailpage#t=51s


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## 161029

We're moving into the future. There goes a couple seconds. I'm a couple seconds into the future now. Where's the point where we can hold it forever (how about in our hands?







)?


----------



## voice

Quote:



Originally Posted by *DrDarkTempler*


This isn't a good news, althought is a techologictical achivement...

Bring Antimatter into a Matter create a chaotic scenario. if anti matter accidental touch something that is matter, it can explode...

I heard (from wiki last time i saw 2 yrs ago lol) a few gram of antimatter touches matter = big atomic size boom, then i could be wrong!


The antimatter would annihilate with it's equivalent amount of matter. A huge explosion would only happen if you had a huge amount of antimatter. As such, a few grams would not create the kind of explosion one might read about in Dan Brown's Angels and Demons. Antimatter is unviable for use as a bomb.

Also, as an interesting side note, some argue antimatter is matter that moves backwards through time.


----------



## GuilT1

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Vagrant Storm*


finally, some good news that doesn't involve kiddy porn or lawsuits.

This...is cool


You may want to rephrase this.

It's kinda scary how fast technology is moving.


----------



## Kirmie

Yay! Now do something interesting with the trapped anti-matter already! I suggest throwing it at something at uploading the video.


----------



## UsedPaperclip

Quote:



Originally Posted by *james_ant*


One step closer to building a warp engine.


I guess it's time I start building my Millennium Falcon.....


----------



## DrDarkTempler

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Kirmie*


Yay! Now do something interesting with the trapped anti-matter already! I suggest throwing it at something at uploading the video.



Nothing can really be use except for energy purpose from explosion, all antimatter do is to get rid of matter on the same equal matter..

Hawking mention that we lucky that we had more matter then antimatter during the start of the universe, all the matters from this universe is from the left over after the antimatter vs matter battle

I wonder can antimatter start a man made black hole


----------



## Liability

Quote:



Originally Posted by *voice*


The antimatter would annihilate with it's equivalent amount of matter. A huge explosion would only happen if you had a huge amount of antimatter. As such, a few grams would not create the kind of explosion one might read about in Dan Brown's Angels and Demons. Antimatter is unviable for use as a bomb.

Also, as an interesting side note, some argue antimatter is matter that moves backwards through time.


Herp derp. Do you think the matter just magically vanishes? No, every bit of it's mass is converted to energy. 1 gram of matter has the energy equivalent of 21 kilotons of TNT. That is slightly higher than the atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki. An antimatter bomb would be the pinnacle of weaponry.


----------



## DrDarkTempler

Quote:



Originally Posted by *dave12*


A few grams of anti matter would be a big boom but this is a few atoms relatively small boom.



Not really...

Think about E = MC^2

Your cellphone mass and matter have enough energy to blow up maybe half of the planet (lol Evangelion 2nd impact)


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## slipstream808

If at all possible I'd like to see what a solid mass of antihydrogen looked like.


----------



## KBcobra

Quote:



Originally Posted by *DrDarkTempler*


Not really...

Think about E = MC^2

Your cellphone mass and matter have enough energy to blow up maybe half of the planet (lol Evangelion 2nd impact)


Not quite... its a little smaller than Tsar back 1961.

Using my Droid x which is 155 Grams.


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## Kirby1

Quote:



Even more excitingly, the lab's particle physicists have plans for upcoming tests that will determine whether antimatter plays by gravity's rules, or whether they're truly "anti" in every definition. The ALPHA team plans to freeze a small lump of antihydrogen, and watch what happens.

If it falls up, we might be seeing the first step towards turning anti-gravity sci-fi into a reality. CERN is determined to test this within the next couple of months.


That is quite interesting.

The warp drives used in Star Trek sound more and more possible the more I know about anti-matter.


----------



## TwistedDivision

This has really taken off! I hope they can make hover cars with it.


----------



## Jinto

What I wanna know is, when are we gonna get those mini pizzas from Back to the Future Part II so they can instantly expand in our hydro ovens?


----------



## vtech1

Quote:



Originally Posted by *weidass*


Hmm. I wonder if this will increase UFO activity? If there are aliens watching us, then creating antimatter and holding it for 15 Mins would probably catch their attention.

Think First Contact. Except its not warp drive, just antimatter.


warp drives use antimatter so we are 1 step closer cus we found the fuel for the warp drive


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## SmokinWaffle

This was a triumph.


----------



## mechtech

I had an idea for magnetically contained antimatter bomb (sealed in a total vacuum) in grade school. Seems like a much simpler idea than fusion/fission, but obviously you can't exactly mine antimatter like uranium.

Then again, modern boosted fusion bombs are 40% efficient at mass->energy conversion, so there's not much further to go really.

Maybe antimatter could be used for energy generation? Probably not, as producing anti-matter will always take more energy than reacting it nets back.

Still cool though...


----------



## RonindeBeatrice

Quote:



Originally Posted by *DrDarkTempler*


This isn't a good news, althought is a techologictical achivement...

Bring Antimatter into a Matter create a chaotic scenario. if anti matter accidental touch something that is matter, it can explode...

I heard (from wiki last time i saw 2 yrs ago lol) a few gram of antimatter touches matter = big atomic size boom, then i could be wrong!


A few grams of matter would take a lot of energy to harvest... You would get out exactly what you put in while harvesting it (minus the inefficiencies of the harvesting process).

Anti matter reacts with matter in a perfect destruction of the masses of each into pure energy. A one gram interaction of matter with one gram of anti matter would produce 180,000,000,000,000 Joules of energy, or roughly three times the energy that flattened Hiroshima.

Quote:



Originally Posted by *mechtech*


Maybe antimatter could be used for energy generation? Probably not, as producing anti-matter will always take more energy than reacting it nets back.

Still cool though...


Couldn't readily be used as a means of energy generation, but it could be used as a means of energy storage, if a means to safely store it could be developed.


----------



## srsdude

Quote:



Originally Posted by *cl04k3d*


If I fuse myself with antimatter, well then it wouldn't really matter.


I see what you did there









also guys

Quote:



Even more excitingly, the lab's particle physicists have plans for upcoming tests that will determine whether antimatter plays by gravity's rules, or whether they're truly "anti" in every definition. The ALPHA team plans to freeze a small lump of antihydrogen, and watch what happens.

If it falls up, we might be seeing the first step towards turning anti-gravity sci-fi into a reality. CERN is determined to test this within the next couple of months.


----------



## Enfluenza

good! now we can weaponize it!
antimatter explosions ftw!


----------



## Cyrilmak

And people say FTL travel is not possible. Give it 100 to 150 years, 200 max.


----------



## dave12

Quote:



Originally Posted by *DrDarkTempler*


Not really...

Think about E = MC^2

Your cellphone mass and matter have enough energy to blow up maybe half of the planet (lol Evangelion 2nd impact)


I did think about it. You do your own math assuming the mass of 309 atoms of anti-hydrogen. Boom, yes; cataclysm, no.


----------



## voice

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Liability*


Herp derp.


First of all, thats unnecessary. I thought you were one of the better members of this community.

Quote:



Do you think the matter just magically vanishes? No, every bit of it's mass is converted to energy. 1 gram of matter has the energy equivalent of 21 kilotons of TNT. That is slightly higher than the atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki. An antimatter bomb would be the pinnacle of weaponry.


Fair enough. I was completely wrong. When I was younger I was reading on the CERN website about antimatter and read this

Quote:



*Can we make antimatter bombs?*

No. It would take billions of years to produce enough antimatter for a bomb having the same destructiveness as 'typical' hydrogen bombs, of which there exist more than ten thousand already.


I didn't recall it properly obviously. My mistake.

http://public.web.cern.ch/public/en/...tAandD-en.html


----------



## Crazy9000

How do we really know what will happen when anti-matter touches matter until someone tries it? DO IT CERN, YOU KNOW YOU WANT TO.


----------



## RonindeBeatrice

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Crazy9000*


How do we really know what will happen when anti-matter touches matter until someone tries it? DO IT CERN, YOU KNOW YOU WANT TO.


They _do_ do it, everyday. The amount of energy that goes into it, and the tremendous waste ensures that the result is never catastrophic.


----------



## SHNS0

Quote:



Originally Posted by *SmokinWaffle*


This was a triumph.










I'm making a note here: HUGE SUCCESS!


----------



## PoopaScoopa

Recreating the big bang


----------



## SmokinWaffle

Quote:



Originally Posted by *SHNS0*


I'm making a note here: HUGE SUCCESS!


It's hard to overstate my satisfaction!


----------



## nathris

Now we just need to find a way to power the magnetic snare using energy from a controlled matter-antimatter reaction. Hello warp core.


----------



## MacA

I think (hope) I made a mistake but basically, a 21kt anti matter bomb would equal 441000000Mt of TNT...
...
Damn it we're ****ed.

The biggest bomb ever created was the Tsar Bomba with... 50Mt. And the thing was *huge*. Luckily 21kt of anti matter is just not possible (right now). But something that powerful could easily destroy planets.

Just imagine, an accident involving anti-matter...


----------



## Obakemono

Quote:



Originally Posted by *DrDarkTempler*


This isn't a good news, althought is a techologictical achivement...

Bring Antimatter into a Matter create a chaotic scenario. if anti matter accidental touch something that is matter, it can explode...

I heard (from wiki last time i saw 2 yrs ago lol) a few gram of antimatter touches matter = big atomic size boom, then i could be wrong!


Don't worry, Scottie's all over it.


----------



## RonindeBeatrice

Quote:



Originally Posted by *MacA*


I think (hope) I made a mistake but basically, a 21kt anti matter bomb would equal 441000000Mt of TNT...
...
Damn it we're ****ed.

The biggest bomb ever created was the Tsar Bomba with... 50Mt. And the thing was *huge*. Luckily 21kt of anti matter is just not possible (right now). But something that powerful could easily destroy planets.

Just imagine, an accident involving anti-matter...


Not justifying your math by double checking it, but you realize, of course, that your described 21KT anti matter bomb would weigh 21,000 tons, right? Do you know how completely dead ended attempting to gather that mass of anti matter would be?


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## fruitflavor

and like RonindeBeatrice said, is producing anti matter takes enormous amount of energy but storing it takes large amount of energy as well. Well Dan Brown and his Angels& Demons? forget it. He would have to tote the whole reactor along to create magnetic field to store anti matter. The moment anti matter touches anything, it's gone. 
oh and it'd be funny if there wasn't enough energy for the 16 minutes of holding anti matter that they had to pull the power from the grid causing brown outs in local area.


----------



## fear5300

Quote:



Originally Posted by *UsedPaperclip*


I guess it's time I start building my Millennium Falcon.....


Falcon!!?!? What about the Enterprise? xD


----------



## Subayai

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Cyrilmak*


And people say FTL travel is not possible. Give it 100 to 150 years, 200 max.


Nah - we need to develop a Alcubierre drive ... that'll do much better then FTL. FTL has the problem of time dilation... the Alcubierre drive doesnt... but your still going faster then light. Its the cloest thing known as "warp drive"... but its not really a trekkie warp drive. And if they manage to detect negative energy when they freeze that anti-matter... then its a huge step forward.


----------



## Smoblikat

Quote:



Originally Posted by *cl04k3d*


If I fuse myself with antimatter, well then it wouldn't really matter.


i actually laughed out loud in real life


----------



## dave12

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *RonindeBeatrice;13384757*
> Not justifying your math by double checking it, but you realize, of course, that your described 21KT anti matter bomb would weigh 21,000 tons, right? Do you know how completely dead ended attempting to gather that mass of anti matter would be?


I don't think anyone in here has taken freshman physics, (and I don't remember most of it). Hydrogen = 1.67 x 10^-24g. The E of each would be E= (1.67 x 10^-24g)(186,282^2). I don't know what the explosive yield of TNT is but to get an equivalent explosive yield from a anti/normal matter reaction wouldn't require more than nominal amount (relative) of reactants.


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## ArchLinuxFTW

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *cl04k3d;13380266*
> If I fuse myself with antimatter, well then it wouldn't really matter.


It would matter, because the resulting energy released would blow easily 500 cities up.


----------



## Singular1ty

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *james_ant;13380246*
> One step closer to building a warp engine.


I hope your trolling, or being sarcastic, otherwise this is completely idiotic.

I didn't realise you even comprehend the physics involved in any universe other then the fictional ones.


----------



## Singular1ty

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ArchLinuxFTW;13386397*
> It would matter, because the resulting energy released would blow easily 500 cities up.


Basically. And therein lies the whole fluke in star trek's idea of a teleporter. By breaking you down into energy, it releases enough energy to blow up, as you said, a rather large chunk out of a continent.


----------



## Singular1ty

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *dave12;13386363*
> I don't think anyone in here has taken freshman physics, (and I don't remember most of it). Hydrogen = 1.67 x 10^-24g. The E of each would be E= (1.67 x 10^-24g)(186,282^2). I don't know what the explosive yield of TNT is but to get an equivalent explosive yield from a anti/normal matter reaction wouldn't require more than nominal amount (relative) of reactants.


Why is your speed of light 186,282?

I thought it was 2.99*10^8

But otherwise I have to agree with you.


----------



## Crazy9000

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Singular1ty;13386422*
> Basically. And therein lies the whole fluke in star trek's idea of a teleporter. By breaking you down into energy, it releases enough energy to blow up, as you said, a rather large chunk out of a continent.


I don't see any fluke in that. It's conceivable that kind of energy would be common place in the future.


----------



## Singular1ty

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Crazy9000;13386433*
> I don't see any fluke in that. It's conceivable that kind of energy would be common place in the future.


A few hundred megatons?

That's probably in the same area as the amount of energy released in the earthquake that hit Japan.

Explain to me how you would build a capaciter that large? And if you suffer any error and cannot re integrate the person your space ship will explode and take out anything in several mile radius along with it.

Theres a difference between science fiction and reality.


----------



## dave12

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Singular1ty;13386431*
> Why is your speed of light 186,282?
> 
> I thought it was 2.99*10^8


186,282 I believe is miles, 299 would be meters. I think. This isn't my department.


----------



## Singular1ty

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *fruitflavor;13385263*
> and like RonindeBeatrice said, is producing anti matter takes enormous amount of energy but storing it takes large amount of energy as well. Well Dan Brown and his Angels& Demons? forget it. He would have to tote the whole reactor along to create magnetic field to store anti matter. The moment anti matter touches anything, it's gone.
> oh and it'd be funny if there wasn't enough energy for the 16 minutes of holding anti matter that they had to pull the power from the grid causing brown outs in local area.


Dude, considering the amount they had, I could have probably powered it with my car battery.

Remember, the amount of force needed to control it is directly related to it's weight.

And the mass of a proton is 1.672*10^-27 kilograms.

If you actually have small enough amounts you may not even need electromagnets, just an extremely complex setup of normal magnets.

antimatter is not some sort of mystical world ending material. That's what amateur physicists need to get into their heads. And by "amateur" I mean science fiction enthusiasts.


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## Singular1ty

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *dave12;13386474*
> 186,282 I believe is miles, 299 would be meters. I think. This isn't my department.


Huh, that's... interesting. Using miles in an equation where the mass is given in the metric system is typically a very, very, very bad idea.


----------



## dave12

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Singular1ty;13386528*
> Huh, that's... interesting. Using miles in an equation where the mass is given in the metric system is typically a very, very, very bad idea.


I'm a fat guy babysitting my boxes for the Chimp Challenge, not a physicist. I just thought a little bit of math would help the guys talking about the world ending 309 anti-hydrogen atoms.


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## PoopaScoopa

Just ignore Singularity. He just trolls science threads pretending to understand basic physics.


----------



## Scorpion87

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *vtech1;13382858*
> warp drives use antimatter so we are 1 step closer cus we found the fuel for the warp drive


Now we just need some dilithium


----------



## Dmoney

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Singular1ty;13386528*
> Huh, that's... interesting. Using miles in an equation where the mass is given in the metric system is typically a very, very, very bad idea.


Oh God will you stop talking out of your ass, I remember you from that space time bubble thread where you had no idea what you were talking about, yet insisted you had a god damn masters in physics.


----------



## Search

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *KBcobra;13380283*
> Iseewhatyoudidthere.jpg


----------



## Singular1ty

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *PoopaScoopa;13387761*
> Just ignore Singularity. He just trolls science threads pretending to understand basic physics.


Aren't you trolling right now? Making personal attacks to distract people from the overrall picture?


----------



## PoopaScoopa

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Singular1ty;13389897*
> Aren't you trolling right now? Making personal attacks to distract people from the overrall picture?


What he said was perfectly fine. Dmoney and I are just pointing out that you're contributing nothing to the thread except for trolling it.


----------



## Singular1ty

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Dmoney;13389267*
> Oh God will you stop talking out of your ass, I remember you from that space time bubble thread where you had no idea what you were talking about, yet insisted you had a god damn masters in physics.


Really? When did I say I had a masters in physics?

Prove it, otherwise you yourself are talking out of your ass. Which would make you a hypocrit and a liar.

Boo hoo, so I accidently switched who was going to age sooner. Big deal. I apologize.

Fact is that everything else I said was correct. Are you telling me that if I go through every one of your posts I won'd find one that's wrong?

I never claimed anything about having a master's in physics. You have such a laughably superficial knowledge of what went on that its embarrassing to listen to you.

Either prove me wrong here or shut the hell up.


----------



## Singular1ty

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *PoopaScoopa;13389903*
> What he said was perfectly fine. Dmoney and I are just pointing out that you're contributing nothing to the thread except for trolling it.


No, that's what you did. And by the looks of things your trying pretty hard.

I was wondering why he used the American system of measurement at the same time as the metric system.

And if you know anything about physics you will know that can almost never end well.

You either use the American system, or the metric system. Not both.


----------



## PoopaScoopa

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Singular1ty;13389915*
> Really? When did I say I had a masters in physics?
> 
> Prove it, otherwise you yourself are talking out of your ass. Which would make you a hypocrit and a liar.
> 
> Boo hoo, so I accidently switched who was going to age sooner. Big deal. I apologize.
> 
> Fact is that everything else I said was correct. Are you telling me that if I go through every one of your posts I won'd find one that's wrong?
> 
> I never claimed anything about having a master's in physics. You have such a laughably superficial knowledge of what went on that its embarrassing to listen to you.
> 
> Either prove me wrong here or shut the hell up.


Dude, posts like this are a exactly what I'm talking about. You have a superiority complex in these science threads yet end up being wrong.

Woopdie-doo he used the Imperial system. Get over it. That's like arguing about someone's grammar on the internet...


----------



## Singular1ty

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Scorpion87;13388875*
> Now we just need some dilithium


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dilithium

Mission accomplished







.

Warp 3....engage.


----------



## Singular1ty

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *PoopaScoopa;13389938*
> Dude, posts like this are a exactly what I'm talking about. You have a superiority complex in these science threads yet end up being wrong.


You guys still haven't answered my question. Was I right about the use of the American system of measurement being used along with the metric in the same equation, or not?

Sure I'm, no Einstein. But every day of training I have had in the field screams no, don't do it, stick with one or the other not both.

I never claimed to be an Einstein, my problem with you is that you are treating me like I did.

Because from the sounds of it, you came in here to insult me on the basis of my knowledge of physics. And then now you are saying that I was right in the first place. But your still attacking me.

You are truly full of yourself aren't you?


----------



## sorage

Enterprise here i come!!!


----------



## Singular1ty

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *sorage;13389975*
> Enterprise here i come!!!


If you ever learn the neck pinch thing, can you tell us how to do it? I can think of so many useful applications.


----------



## MacA

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *RonindeBeatrice;13384757*
> Not justifying your math by double checking it, but you realize, of course, that your described 21KT anti matter bomb would weigh 21,000 tons, right? Do you know how completely dead ended attempting to gather that mass of anti matter would be?


Yeah and I have no problem with that, by the time we can make 21kt of anti-matter, wi will surely have some way to "negate" its weight. And well, in space it wouldn't really matter.

We won't (ever?) be able to make a 21kt AM bomb anyways ^^.


----------



## Mach 5

Angels and Demons.

That is all.


----------



## PoopaScoopa

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Mach 5*


Angels and Demons.

That is all.


----------



## Atomfix

Great, This is getting closer to that movie "Star Trek: First Contact" when the first warp ship gets flown and gets some alien attention that will be the end of World War 3....

It will be a while yet I guees.... We still haven't got anything like Impulse Drives


----------



## dave12

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Singular1ty*


You guys still haven't answered my question. Was I right about the use of the American system of measurement being used along with the metric in the same equation, or not?

Sure I'm, no Einstein. But every day of training I have had in the field screams no, don't do it, stick with one or the other not both.


You're right from a scientician perspective, but it seems like a perfectly acceptable equation from a guy that took freshman physics ten years ago. The equation I think was right; outside of the jumbling of units.

From a practical point of view NASA and the ESA like to mix systems of measurement and crash probes into Mars and Venus. They do it all the time.


----------



## DuckieHo

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Atomfix;13390107*
> It will be a while yet I guees.... We still haven't got anything like Impulse Drives


Ion thrusters are actually have been used a few NASA probes.

The Dominion and Iconian use ion thrusters for their impluse drives.









Quote:


> Originally Posted by *MacA;13390014*
> Yeah and I have no problem with that, by the time we can make 21kt of anti-matter, wi will surely have some way to "negate" its weight. And well, in space it wouldn't really matter.


It would still matter (pun not intended) in space.... object still have mass. It will still require force to accelerate/decelerate 21kt of anti-matter.


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## PoopaScoopa

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *DuckieHo;13390808*
> Ion thrusters are actually have been used a few NASA probes.
> 
> The Dominion and Iconian use ion thrusters for their impluse drives.


Unlike the movies though, Ion thrusters take years to build up speed








Sometimes things turn out a little differently than the movies.


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## dave12

Quote:



Originally Posted by *PoopaScoopa*


Unlike the movies though, Ion thrusters take years to build up speed








Sometimes things turn out a little differently than the movies.


http://dawn.jpl.nasa.gov/

That thing has one and they are using it for maneuvering so it must have some thrust on demand.


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## alick

"I want it all of it"


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## TwistedDivision

Come on, 100 replys!!


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## Genjimaru

I'm more interested in creating worm holes between two points. Instantaneous travel between two points please. Spin up those FTLs.


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## pale_neon

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *james_ant;13380246*
> One step closer to building a warp engine.


we still need dilithium crystals though


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## thiru

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *PoopaScoopa;13416985*
> I think you need to go retake intro to physics. All it takes is a slight nudge to push the asteroid off course. That, or you could just park a spacecraft next to it and tug it off course with their mutual gravity.
> 
> The mass of the Earth compared to an asteroid is quite different...


No, you need to take a course on inertia. Do you realize that asteroid is a hundred million times heavier than an astronaut?

Also explain to me why NASA is spending millions on methods to destroy an incoming asteroid, such as kinetic impactors (aka hurling massive objects at it), nuclear bombs, attaching rockets to it, gravity tractors (aka diverting its trajectory slowly thanks to massive objects), ion beams?


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## PoopaScoopa

Quote:



Originally Posted by *thiru*


No, you need to take a course on inertia. Do you realize that asteroid is a hundred million times heavier than an astronaut?

Also explain to me why NASA is spending millions on methods to destroy an incoming asteroid, such as kinetic impactors (aka hurling massive objects at it), nuclear bombs, attaching rockets to it, gravity tractors (aka diverting its trajectory slowly thanks to massive objects), ion beams?


One the surface of the planet it might... The object is in space though... Obviously NASA won't be sending up a human to push an asteroid but it could be done if tried.

NASA is NOT spending money on nuclear bombs, attaching rockets to it or using kinetic "impactors". The last thing you want to do is break it up into smaller pieces. This isn't the movies. We have no way of knowing where those objects will go once you blow it up.

One of the ideas is to park a large object next to it to slowly tug it off course with their mutual gravity as I already stated.


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## YaGit(TM)

Quote:



Originally Posted by *cl04k3d*


If I fuse myself with antimatter, well then it wouldn't really matter.


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## thiru

Quote:



Originally Posted by *PoopaScoopa*


One the surface of the planet it might... The object is in space though... Obviously NASA won't be sending up a human to push an asteroid but it could be done if tried.

NASA is NOT spending money on nuclear bombs, attaching rockets to it or using kinetic "impactors". The last thing you want to do is break it up into smaller pieces. This isn't the movies. We have no way of knowing where those objects will go once you blow it up.

One of the ideas is to park a large object next to it to slowly tug it off course with their mutual gravity as I already stated.


What the hell? you think just because an object is in space it doesn't have mass and inertia? any object with mass has a natural tendency to resist efforts to move it, or change its movement, regardless of whether they're on a planet or not. This is called inertia.
Even on Earth you can observe this. Throw a dictionary and then throw a piece of paper horizontally at it while it's in the air. It won't budge, and that's only with a mass ratio of a hundred. Can you imagine a hundred million? It's not because of gravity because gravity is vertical and it's not friction or air resistance unless you let it fall too much (so do it at the apogee of its flight if you want).

Nuclear bombs blown far away enough and kinetic impactors would push the asteroid away, not blow it up. Attaching rockets would certainly not blow it up either, just use thrust to move it away.

The European Space Agency made a study on the very asteroid you're talking about, and they think a 1 ton spacecraft with _enough kinetic energy_ would do. And it's part of a project to study the effects of kinetic impactors on 2 real asteroids (one of them being Apophis) that could be launched as early as 2013. Now why would they do all that research and consider building them if you can simply push it with your arms?


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## keesh

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *cl04k3d;13380266*
> If I fuse myself with antimatter, well then it wouldn't really matter.


this is the greatness.

plus after reading dan brown's "angels and demons" I feel this is going to draw into some insane conclusion involving religious protest and the like.


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## Boyboyd

When I saw the title I thoug it was going to be for for 16 microseconds or something, lol.

16 minutes is a hell of a long time to trap something so stable.


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## PoopaScoopa

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *thiru;13425157*
> What the hell? you think just because an object is in space it doesn't have mass and inertia? any object with mass has a natural tendency to resist efforts to move it, or change its movement, regardless of whether they're on a planet or not. This is called inertia.
> Even on Earth you can observe this. Throw a dictionary and then throw a piece of paper horizontally at it while it's in the air. It won't budge, and that's only with a mass ratio of a hundred. Can you imagine a hundred million? It's not because of gravity because gravity is vertical and it's not friction or air resistance unless you let it fall too much (so do it at the apogee of its flight if you want).
> 
> Nuclear bombs blown far away enough and kinetic impactors would push the asteroid away, not blow it up. Attaching rockets would certainly not blow it up either, just use thrust to move it away.
> 
> The European Space Agency made a study on the very asteroid you're talking about, and they think a 1 ton spacecraft with _enough kinetic energy_ would do. And it's part of a project to study the effects of kinetic impactors on 2 real asteroids (one of them being Apophis) that could be launched as early as 2013. Now why would they do all that research and consider building them if you can simply push it with your arms?


I'm not really up on what ESA plans to do if it all. They hardly do anything as it is.
Why wouldn't they send a human to go push the asteroid? Because it's too dangerous to put a human out that far. We can't even shield astronauts from radiation so they would be exposed to harmful levels of radiation being so far outside Earth's magnetic field as well as the food.


----------



## thiru

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *PoopaScoopa;13429010*
> I'm not really up on what ESA plans to do if it all. They hardly do anything as it is.
> Why wouldn't they send a human to go push the asteroid? Because it's too dangerous to put a human out that far. We can't even shield astronauts from radiation so they would be exposed to harmful levels of radiation being so far outside Earth's magnetic field as well as the food.


Is that really all you have to say? you know very well that what I was arguing was the force required to push an asteroid off course, not the ability to send an astronaut to it.


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## TwistedDivision

100 replies! Antimatter


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## BKsMassive

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *cl04k3d;13380266*
> If I fuse myself with antimatter, well then it wouldn't really matter.


if you touched anti-matter our solar system would blow up.
so please don't.









1g of matter and 1g of anti-matter touching = 500mega ton bomb.


----------



## thiru

Quote:



Originally Posted by *BKsMassive*


if you touched anti-matter our solar system would blow up.
so please don't.









1g of matter and 1g of anti-matter touching = 500mega ton bomb.


43 kilotons actually.


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## 222Panther222




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## cl04k3d

Brb while I go inhale some antihelium so I can sound like a tough guy.


----------



## Kmon

Quote:



Originally Posted by *thiru*


No, you need to take a course on inertia. Do you realize that asteroid is a hundred million times heavier than an astronaut?

Also explain to me why NASA is spending millions on methods to destroy an incoming asteroid, such as kinetic impactors (aka hurling massive objects at it), nuclear bombs, attaching rockets to it, gravity tractors (aka diverting its trajectory slowly thanks to massive objects), ion beams?


NASA was also thinking about mirrors and sunlight to alter the course of an asteroid. The asteroid would need to be discovery and plotted to allow enough time to alter the asteroid path. This is a much more efficient and effective approach. It does require long term planning as it takes time.


----------



## SoulThief

Quote:



Originally Posted by *PoopaScoopa*


It's very little. Like the pressure of a piece of paper pushing on you. In space though, that's enough to move around. After awhile, that speed starts to add up and it can be very fast. Like the the near Earth asteroid that's coming around Friday the 13th, April 2029 with a possible collision in 2036 depending on how close it flies by - you can send an Astronaut up to push it off course with just your finger.


Speed doesn't magically add up, you need force for this -- if you hurl an object in space it'll continue to move at the same speed as it was thrown, unless external factors are applied to make it move even faster.

You can't simply push an object in space with bigger mass and expect it to move at your command, in fact if you threw a bowling ball with the same force towards somebody in space as you would on Earth, the blow would be just the same.

You would need to apply just as much mass to the object in question to make it stop moving, this can also be done with kinetic energy or using thrusters to create friction and make the object stop.


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## Eduardv

What other purposes have this test,than destroying matter? Anti-matter is no good for anyone?

I see this as a military test?


----------



## thiru

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Eduardv;13435090*
> What other purposes have this test,than destroying matter? Anti-matter is no good for anyone?
> 
> I see this as a military test?


Understanding how antimatter works would could lead to a greater understanding of how particles work. It could be used as fuel for spaceships and for medical purposes such as imaging.


----------



## SoulThief

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Eduardv;13435090*
> What other purposes have this test,than destroying matter? Anti-matter is no good for anyone?
> 
> I see this as a military test?


Anti-matter holds an unprecedented amount of energy, if you could replicate anti-matter and put it into a reactor, a Nuclear power plant would seem like a 10w light bulb.

A lot of our technological advances are held back because the lack of energy required for them, we're still depended on many fossil fuels some of which add to pollution others have radio activity which we still can't remove.

Anti-matter is unprecedented amounts of energy that is extremely clean, the only thing we're working on now is trying to product particles of anti-matter and keep them stable.

Although I don't see any use for military appliances I am sure they'll find enough of them.


----------



## thiru

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *SoulThief;13438677*
> Although I don't see any use for military appliances I am sure they'll find enough of them.


Really? you can't imagine _one_ use?


----------



## SoulThief

Quote:



Originally Posted by *thiru*


Really? you can't imagine _one_ use?


Not something that is going to be implemented very soon, although anti-matter is highly volatile and could be a next generation of WoMD, I pray to God it will never be created.


----------



## thiru

Quote:



Originally Posted by *SoulThief*


Not something that is going to be implemented very soon, although anti-matter is highly volatile and could be a next generation of WoMD, I pray to God it will never be created.


Well 1 gram of antimatter released would be the equivalent of 50 kilotons of TNT. They just need to step up the production cost and find a way to contain it discretely for quite a bit more than 16 minutes.


----------



## fruitflavor

Quote:



Originally Posted by *SoulThief*


Anti-matter holds an unprecedented amount of energy, if you could replicate anti-matter and put it into a reactor, a Nuclear power plant would seem like a 10w light bulb.

A lot of our technological advances are held back because the lack of energy required for them, we're still depended on many fossil fuels some of which add to pollution others have radio activity which we still can't remove.

Anti-matter is unprecedented amounts of energy that is extremely clean, the only thing we're working on now is trying to product particles of anti-matter and keep them stable.

Although I don't see any use for military appliances I am sure they'll find enough of them.


can't use it for reactors. The amount of energy needed to create antimatter is far greater than the energy that it can produce.


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