Board index › Topical Discussion › Politics, Philosophy, and Religion

Scientists claim breakthrough in antimatter hunt

Page 1 of 2 [ 18 posts ]  Go to page 1, 2  Next

Previous topic | Next topic

techstepgenr8tion
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 6 Feb 2005
Age: 44
Gender: Male
Posts: 24,183
Location: 28th Path of Tzaddi

18 Nov 2010, 1:11 pm

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/eu_switzerland_antimatter

Its pop release but still, interesting stuff. I might have to check out where I can see these things more up-to-date.



waltur
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 4 May 2009
Age: 38
Gender: Male
Posts: 924
Location: california

18 Nov 2010, 1:38 pm

techstepgenr8tion wrote:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/eu_switzerland_antimatter

Its pop release but still, interesting stuff. I might have to check out where I can see these things more up-to-date.


http://scienceblogs.com/principles/2010/11/trapped_antihydrogen.php

i saw this on scienceblogs yesterday but i haven't had the patience to fall into it yet.

very promising.


_________________
Waltur the Walrus Slayer,
Militant Asantist.
"BLASPHEMER!! !! !! !!" (according to AngelRho)


skafather84
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 20 Mar 2006
Age: 39
Gender: Male
Posts: 9,848
Location: New Orleans, LA

18 Nov 2010, 2:23 pm

They were able to capture an anti-helium for much longer than the instantaneous destruction they had previously witnessed. Still only fractions of a second but that's still more of a breakthrough for our computer measurements than simply instant destruction and only a solid hinting.


_________________
Wherever they burn books they will also, in the end, burn human beings. ~Heinrich Heine, Almansor, 1823

?I wouldn't recommend sex, drugs or insanity for everyone, but they've always worked for me.? - Hunter S. Thompson


ruveyn
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 21 Sep 2008
Age: 87
Gender: Male
Posts: 31,502
Location: New Jersey

18 Nov 2010, 2:59 pm

It will be interesting to find out if anti-matter has the same kind of gravitational interaction as matter. Does anti-matter fall faster or slower than matter in a gravitational field.

ruveyn



skafather84
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 20 Mar 2006
Age: 39
Gender: Male
Posts: 9,848
Location: New Orleans, LA

18 Nov 2010, 3:09 pm

ruveyn wrote:
It will be interesting to find out if anti-matter has the same kind of gravitational interaction as matter. Does anti-matter fall faster or slower than matter in a gravitational field.

ruveyn


It may have lasted long enough to track the second question. I haven't read enough of it to know that...just to see that they were able to actually keep it, albeit extremely briefly.


_________________
Wherever they burn books they will also, in the end, burn human beings. ~Heinrich Heine, Almansor, 1823

?I wouldn't recommend sex, drugs or insanity for everyone, but they've always worked for me.? - Hunter S. Thompson


techstepgenr8tion
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 6 Feb 2005
Age: 44
Gender: Male
Posts: 24,183
Location: 28th Path of Tzaddi

18 Nov 2010, 5:39 pm

skafather84 wrote:
They were able to capture an anti-helium for much longer than the instantaneous destruction they had previously witnessed.

That might be a hint already - if antimatter noble gases behave somewhat similarly to their matter counterparts.



skafather84
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 20 Mar 2006
Age: 39
Gender: Male
Posts: 9,848
Location: New Orleans, LA

18 Nov 2010, 5:50 pm

techstepgenr8tion wrote:
skafather84 wrote:
They were able to capture an anti-helium for much longer than the instantaneous destruction they had previously witnessed.

That might be a hint already - if antimatter noble gases behave somewhat similarly to their matter counterparts.


I think it was anti-helium. I may be mistaken and it was anti-hydrogen.

Actually, I was mistaken. It was anti-hydrogen. Sorry.

http://www.physorg.com/news/2010-11-antihydrogen.html


_________________
Wherever they burn books they will also, in the end, burn human beings. ~Heinrich Heine, Almansor, 1823

?I wouldn't recommend sex, drugs or insanity for everyone, but they've always worked for me.? - Hunter S. Thompson


Eggman
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 17 Jul 2008
Gender: Male
Posts: 4,676

18 Nov 2010, 6:03 pm

why is this not in science?


_________________
Pwning the threads with my mad 1337 skillz.


waltur
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 4 May 2009
Age: 38
Gender: Male
Posts: 924
Location: california

19 Nov 2010, 2:14 pm

Eggman wrote:
why is this not in science?


i assume you mean why is it in politics, philosophy, and religion? maybe techstep wanted to distract us from our religious/antireligious tirades?

i'm interested to see where the thread goes after it takes that turn. :)


apparently, they've managed to come up with a magnetic "trap," of sorts, that can keep the antihydrogen in existence long enough to do a spectroscopy. now they'll need to do the spectroscopy and then they'll tell me all kinds of things to make my head a'splosiate.


_________________
Waltur the Walrus Slayer,
Militant Asantist.
"BLASPHEMER!! !! !! !!" (according to AngelRho)


petitesouris
Deinonychus
Deinonychus

User avatar

Joined: 13 Feb 2010
Age: 33
Gender: Female
Posts: 371

19 Nov 2010, 5:01 pm

I must admit that I do not get why there supposedly was more antimatter than exists now.



Inuyasha
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 12 Jan 2009
Age: 41
Gender: Male
Posts: 9,745

19 Nov 2010, 5:12 pm

petitesouris wrote:
I must admit that I do not get why there supposedly was more antimatter than exists now.


When matter and antimatter come into contact they annihilate each other to produce an enormous amount of energy.

E=mc^2

That's why starships in Star Trek (at least Federation ones) used matter/anti-matter reactions to power the ship.



waltur
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 4 May 2009
Age: 38
Gender: Male
Posts: 924
Location: california

19 Nov 2010, 5:47 pm

Inuyasha wrote:
petitesouris wrote:
I must admit that I do not get why there supposedly was more antimatter than exists now.


When matter and antimatter come into contact they annihilate each other to produce an enormous amount of energy.

E=mc^2

That's why starships in Star Trek (at least Federation ones) used matter/anti-matter reactions to power the ship.


i didn't know that's what powered star trek boats. sounds way cooler than the ion engines (star wars tech) that we're putting on probes :)


_________________
Waltur the Walrus Slayer,
Militant Asantist.
"BLASPHEMER!! !! !! !!" (according to AngelRho)


techstepgenr8tion
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 6 Feb 2005
Age: 44
Gender: Male
Posts: 24,183
Location: 28th Path of Tzaddi

19 Nov 2010, 5:53 pm

waltur wrote:
i assume you mean why is it in politics, philosophy, and religion? maybe techstep wanted to distract us from our religious/antireligious tirades?


Partly that, its good to have something we can all agree on occasionally. That and, PPR topics tend to revolve heavily around macro issues - fundamental nature of matter and cosmology aren't too far off topic.



Inuyasha
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 12 Jan 2009
Age: 41
Gender: Male
Posts: 9,745

19 Nov 2010, 5:58 pm

waltur wrote:
Inuyasha wrote:
petitesouris wrote:
I must admit that I do not get why there supposedly was more antimatter than exists now.


When matter and antimatter come into contact they annihilate each other to produce an enormous amount of energy.

E=mc^2

That's why starships in Star Trek (at least Federation ones) used matter/anti-matter reactions to power the ship.


i didn't know that's what powered star trek boats. sounds way cooler than the ion engines (star wars tech) that we're putting on probes :)


I knew it both from the series and it is in the TNG Technical Manual. Furthermore, I believe it is in The Physics of Star Trek.



waltur
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 4 May 2009
Age: 38
Gender: Male
Posts: 924
Location: california

19 Nov 2010, 6:09 pm

Inuyasha wrote:
waltur wrote:
Inuyasha wrote:
petitesouris wrote:
I must admit that I do not get why there supposedly was more antimatter than exists now.


When matter and antimatter come into contact they annihilate each other to produce an enormous amount of energy.

E=mc^2

That's why starships in Star Trek (at least Federation ones) used matter/anti-matter reactions to power the ship.


i didn't know that's what powered star trek boats. sounds way cooler than the ion engines (star wars tech) that we're putting on probes :)


I knew it both from the series and it is in the TNG Technical Manual. Furthermore, I believe it is in The Physics of Star Trek.


cool. my brother had all those tech manuals from star trek, star wars, and all kinds of other sci fi. i thought a lot of them were really interesting but when i found out star trek tech wasn't real (yet) (give me a break, i was a little kid!), i was disappointed. i was so happy when i first learned we were using ion engines.


_________________
Waltur the Walrus Slayer,
Militant Asantist.
"BLASPHEMER!! !! !! !!" (according to AngelRho)


Sand
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 15 Sep 2007
Age: 98
Gender: Male
Posts: 11,484
Location: Finland

19 Nov 2010, 6:51 pm

The matter anti-matter business was explored in fiction many years ago back in the 1940's and anti-matter was known as CT for contraterrene in the several stories. Jack Williamson under the pen name of Will Stewart published several stories in Astounding Science Fiction Magazine.