NOVA scienceNOW | Ask the Expert | Antimatter Engines

[blenderpanzi]

But wouldn't you need the exact same amount of energy to produce anti matter as you would get out of it later? And the magnetic containment would need extra energy, so it isn't efficient at all!?

[NobleUniverse]

annoying music in the end.

[humbemsishere]

HOW CAN I MAKE A WORM HOLE?

[Typho0n86]

@humbemsishere with capslock

[quangluu96]

@humbemsishere Somehow u can connect two ends in space and go through it :), some people think Black hole are worm hole

[fasantupp]

And they have contained antimatter in a vacum and some magnetic fields at LHC, it's still not a complete vacum tho so small portions of the antimatter gets anihilated.

[fasantupp]

If i don't remember wrong it costs as much enegry or more to produce antimatter as the anihilation of it gives :/

[Capeau]

and how about instead of finding a way to contain them, maybe find a more eficient way to produce em at location

[derman077]

So how do they get antimatter into the brain inside P.E.T scanners?

[Capeau]

@derman077

There is no matter in most ppl their heads, so thats no problem

[JonasFrimodt]

shit does random dudes really ask those kidna questions ?

[volks0388]

If anti matter cannot be contained then what happens after the particle accelerator makes the little amount of anti matter, where do scientists keep anti matter? Anyone?

[Boss351Mustang]

@volks0388 we gust contained antimatter yesterday lol at the LHC

[XANDERXXZ]

ACTOR!!!

[abvmoose87]

isnt the actual biggest challenge to produce ENOUGH antimatter? That's what ive been reading, you could store the antimatter in a penning trap i belive its called.

[BradleyKust]

@abvmoose87

yeah it works with electromagnetic waves i think, but the biggest challenge is making it, i think its like 62 trillian dollars to make 30 grams

[abvmoose87]

@BradleyKust

Yeah it crazy expensive cause they dont put any effort in it. To me antimatter is the only realistic option to achieve effiecent interplanetary travel and even interstellar on a small scale. I think they could ramp up production from nanograms to micrograms in a decade or two if they wanted and put some research in it. And at some point down the line produce kilos and tons of it. The scary thing is if it would be used as a bomb.

[BradleyKust]

I just wish that some of the country leaders would realize that we could do soo much more if we put more thought into things like this...if we were to actually incorporate antimatter into our everyday lives, our civilization would be soo advanced wouldn't even be recognizable...antimater is capable of more than a lot of people know

[XANDERXXZ]

Well you seem quite lerned in this field, why dont you start us off.

[KnuckleBallz]

Chuck Norris is the antimatter. Nothing holds him and he annihilate anything.

[ChuckNorrisJustice44]

Nicely stated.

[withoutasong]

If antimatter annihilates matter, then doesn't that disqualify that old chestnut about not being able to destroy/displace matter??

[leporidus]

The particles and anti-particles generate radiation while annihilating themselves, so Einstein's matter/energy-equivalence chestnut (E=mc²) holds. Phew. (-: ,

[catstrut713]

Chestnuts roasting....on an open fiiirree....

[uberkris123]

no - annihilation doesn't mean destruction. The two forms of matter just convert into a form of energy. The total amount of 'stuff' in the universe doesn't change!

[akamola]

You can destroy matter, but you can't destroy ENERGY. Energy and matter are not the same.

[KPhysicsGeek]

@akamola they actually are two sides of the same coin.  That's Einstein's E= mc^2

[Taospark]

It's energy that can't be destroyed. The matter (and antimatter) become energy (and radiation) upon annihilation.

[luvu2luvme]

what was the fist question????????????

[jtoptimistic]

what is the nature of energy produced in a matter-antimatter reaction?

assuming just heat,

still good that its the 'most efficient' that we know of, but i'd still be more interested in getting cold fusion working, steady stream of electrons seems like a better idea

[drchaffee]

For the low energy case, electron-positron annihilation produces two or more gamma rays. For the high energy case, particles with a rest mass can be created.

[spartan9180]

lolwut. Search 'do antimatter engines' on google, the first link is a NASA article talking about antimatter engines, concept designs, and how they would work, and everything. The article is from '06 but I would think Neil would mention it.

[aHeavenscent]

i bet he gets laid alot. a true G

[xavierartorivs]

Neil, please visit Dallas and explain to John Wiley Price what a black hole is and the physics behind the creation of a black hole.

[Giorgieoh]

Guys an ASS HAT! Professional ASS HAT!

[xavierartorivs]

Giorgieoh: look up John Wiley Price on youtube. He complains about black holes, devils food cake, and the evils of society.

[Giorgieoh]

I know. An idiot brainwashed by Black supremacists. He sounds like the ignorant end of Malcom X

[whotubedyou]

Ask deGrasse meets Ask a Ninja-- the energy from the reason/anti-reason interaction would be absolutely unthinkable.

[Cellsplitter]

I wanna sit next to Neil :'(

[p0ison1vy]

i think that guy makes prank calls on youtube

[vinak963]

i wish he explained what kind of an impact an antimatter-matter generator would have on our society. cheap energy? would it render all other forms of power generation obsolete? what other applications could such a device be used for? is antimatter in large quantities safe?

[MorgoSargas]

Wanna know what imact would it hae on our society? A big BOOOOM. Most of inventions are firstly made for war purposes and only later they find a way to use it in order to benefit. The only problem is... If anti-matter is used for war purposes then there will be no "later" for us.

[vinak963]

nuclear reactor was invented before the nuclear bomb.

[kenny8331]

you are %100 wrong on everything you just said. no big boom, most arent made for war and its not the only problem.

[abvmoose87]

@MorgoSargas

Agree. I think it could be really dangerous if they could produce enough of it and use it as a bomb. I wonder though would they? I mean the atomic bomb is more than powerful enough to do its job and strike fear in people. And its 1000times simpler and cheaper to make. Power of antimatter bomb could blow up a whole country of continent or even more. Its in nobodys interest. or?

[BYMYSYD]

unfortunately it takes a lot of energy to create antimatter. So, the net gain from reacting matter and antimatter is less than what it take to make the anti matter.

[Athaeus]

Yes, but that's not the point. The idea is that it's the most efficient way of storing energy that we know of.