Mastodawn

Talya (she/her) 🏳️‍⚧️✡️2d ago

CERN just managed to transport antimatter via truck, and people are asking what happens if it gets into an accident. the answer is... a car accident.

the energy equivalence of antimatter is huge — 10¹⁷J/kg, but the amount is tiny — 92 protons. it's so tiny that if i placed all 92 in your hand, the destruction and release of energy would feel less warm than mere sunlight, by a factor of at least a few thousands.

i'd be more worried about the 2-ton magnetic containment machine in that truck.

I would say it would be cool if we were to find out how to store massive amounts of antimatter, but then I would realize it would just be a bomb

Talya (she/her) 🏳️‍⚧️✡️1d ago

@burnoutqueen well yeah, but any energy store is a bomb depending on how fast the energy gets released. fuel tanks. batteries. radioactive materials. in some cases it's hard to reach bomb levels (i don't think you can turn most biological material into a bomb EDIT: no i'm wrong, you definitely can), but it's often easier than you think.

I could see a crazy like Trump bombing Spain with an antimatter bomb because Pedro Sanchez said something he didn't like

@Yuvalne antimatter is the most effective material for a weapon ever designed. It destroys matter on contact, forever

@burnoutqueen @Yuvalne imean uhh kinda ? not really ? fusion bombs are much more effective for way smaller prices afaik

Talya (she/her) 🏳️‍⚧️✡️1d ago

@fiore @burnoutqueen
depends on how you define efficient I guess

@burnoutqueen @Yuvalne really like . producing 1kg of antiprotons would be .. god , i dont know . an astronomical endeavour . and that would annihilate 1kg of .. protons ? that are like . in the air . or whatever

not an effective weapon at all

@fiore @Yuvalne @burnoutqueen i think the energy this releases is much more relevant than the matter-antimatter annihilation

@agatha @Yuvalne @burnoutqueen little boy was 75TJ, 1kg of antimatter is at least one order or magnitude less . and thats .. 1kg .. its an absurd amount , science-fictional, even

@agatha @Yuvalne @burnoutqueen actually its 2 orders of magnitude less

@Yuvalne @agatha @burnoutqueen 300MJ to be exact , or 600 i guess

@Yuvalne @agatha @burnoutqueen making 1 single antiproton is already a huge achievement , youd have to make .. yknow.. A Lot ..

@fiore @Yuvalne @burnoutqueen you sure? E = mc², 2kg of matter (and antimatter) releases around 1.8x10^17 J

@agatha @Yuvalne @burnoutqueen didnt square c on my calculator award , youre rigjt im stupid

@fiore @Yuvalne @burnoutqueen don't get me wrong, 1kg of antimatter is completely unreasonable, but it's a lot of energy

@agatha @Yuvalne @burnoutqueen yea youre right i am actually just such a loser physicist that i cant even operate a calculator properly silly me /lh

@fiore @Yuvalne @burnoutqueen tbf it would cost so much to make that much antimatter that it is nonsense

@agatha @Yuvalne @burnoutqueen yea jts insanity , fusion is much more feasible and is already destructive enough for Evil Purposes

@fiore @Yuvalne @burnoutqueen yeah just throw an atomic bomb, the tech already exists anyway

@agatha @fiore @Yuvalne it would take less than a gram (.7 grams or so) of anti matter to release the same energy that the Hiroshima blast did.

@burnoutqueen @agatha @Yuvalne do u know how many antiprptons that is

@fiore @Yuvalne @agatha

A lot

@fiore @Yuvalne @agatha

On the order of 10^23

@burnoutqueen @Yuvalne @agatha yea , not as scifi as 1 whole gram but like . yknow

The Doctor 1d ago

@burnoutqueen @agatha @[email protected] @Yuvalne Under optimal theoretical conditions, yeah.

The Doctor 1d ago

@agatha @[email protected] @Yuvalne @burnoutqueen The energy required is just not happening on earth. Especially these days.

@agatha @Yuvalne @burnoutqueen 1 gram would be like 3 orders of magnitude stronger than littlw boy woah

@Yuvalne @agatha @burnoutqueen although 1 gram is already quite an unachievable goal :P

@fiore @Yuvalne @burnoutqueen yeah we are counting antiprotons... getting to sensible mass is absurd

@agatha @Yuvalne @burnoutqueen still impressive what 0.1 micrograms of antimatter could do !!

The Doctor 1d ago

@agatha @[email protected] @Yuvalne @burnoutqueen Heat and hard gamma rays, yeah.

The Doctor 1d ago

@burnoutqueen @Yuvalne But has a lot of limitations, chiefly, when you drop containment and the first few antibiotics antiparticles annihilate, the released heat throws the remaining antiparticles up and around, spraying them everywhere.

It's more like spraying something with acid than a detonation.