Talya (she/her) 🏳️‍⚧️✡️1d 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.

Show threadJackie1d ago

@Yuvalne

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

Show threadTalya (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.
Show threadJackie1d ago

@Yuvalne

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

Show threadJackie1d ago
@Yuvalne antimatter is the most effective material for a weapon ever designed. It destroys matter on contact, forever
Show threadThe Doctor

@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.

6:14pmWeb