Anti matter?

[FBHthelizardmage]

If we could produce significant amounts of anti matter, what would we be able to do with it using current technology?

(yes I know we can't produce significant amounts of anti matter today, but assuming that's the only way technology has advanced.)

[RedImperator]

Rocket propulsion, power generation (assuming it costs less in energy to produce the antimatter than the reaction releases) and weapons are the only three I can think of. Maybe, if you could control a very fine stream of it, youc could cut superhard material or something.

[Kuroneko]

If we could produce significant amounts of anti matter, what would we be able to do with it using current technology?

Make big bombs, of course. After all, that's the first thing we did with nuclear power. (Well, not technically true, but for the first nuclear reactors, power generation was not a priority--plutonium production was.)

[kojikun]

mike noted previously that its useless to use AM as a power source since all the energy is hard XRays which are useless. The only real uses i can think of are weapons and space propulsion, tho the latter is risky and offers little realistic advantage over other options except when it comes to interstellar travel, which wont happen ever unless we get wormholes or something.

[CaptainChewbacca]

Probably weapons, since all you have to do is switch off its magnetic containment field and watch the boom. Power generation would be a lot more difficult, and a bit more expensive than its worth.

[Grand Admiral Thrawn]

What kind of containment are we using? How effecient can we make the reaction?

[CaptainChewbacca]

Right now when we make antimatter it gets stored in small containers and kept away from normal matter. I don't know how efficient it is, but a M/AM reaction generates more power than any other known reaction, including nuclear fusion.

[aerius]

Would you please only insult me in ONE thread? You're disrupting this forum with your trolling.

Mods, I don't mind his insults, but he's ruining perfectly good threads. Leave the ASU thread, but fix these other ones.

Does your dick reach your ass?

[Grand Admiral Thrawn]

Right now when we make antimatter it gets stored in small containers and kept away from normal matter. I don't know how efficient it is, but a M/AM reaction generates more power than any other known reaction, including nuclear fusion.

Not if it's a crappy reaction.

[CaptainChewbacca]

No, I mean a straight 1-1.

The fusion of two deuterium atoms produces less energy than the combination of one hydrogen with one anti-hydrogen.

That's the whole reason they're trying to do it.

[Kuroneko]

mike noted previously that its useless to use AM as a power source since all the energy is hard XRays which are useless. The only real uses i can think of are weapons and space propulsion, ... .

I disagree. An electron-positron annihilation cannot possibly produce photon pairs of greater than 0.5110MeV energy (unless the electrons/positron temperature in the millions of Kelvins range or greater). The linear absorbtion coefficient for water for 0.5MeV photons is 0.097/cm, meaning a surrounding shell of water 50cm thick would absorb an excess of 99% of the radiation. The heated water could then be used for power generation purposes.

With proton-antiproton interactions, it's a lot tougher. The photon energy is 0.9383GeV, which is rather extreme. Fortunately, extreme-energy photons are not as penetrating as one would expect due to an increase in pair production (the subsequent annihilation of which produce two photons of half the original energy). For example, lead aborbs 10MeV photons (0.61/cm absorbtion coefficient) better than 3MeV ones (0.47/cm absorbtion coefficient). The linear absorbtion coefficient generally goes down until a certain point, and then starts increasing again. For water, that point is around 50MeV, but since I have no data on precisely how it behaves, I cannot estimate the necessary thickness.

[CaptainChewbacca]

Kuroneko knows WAY more about particle interactions than I do.

I'll let him handle the rest of the questions.

[Vympel]

Thread split, bumping it back up.

[MKSheppard]

Storm Rucker knows WAY more about anus-dick interactions than I do.

I'll let him handle the rest of the questions.

Again, stop with the damned innenduo!

[Einhander Sn0m4n]

Storm Rucker knows WAY more about anus-dick interactions than I do.

I'll let him handle the rest of the questions.

Again, stop with the damned innenduo!

LMFAO!!!!

[SyntaxVorlon]

Antimatter could be used to speed up fusion in a fusion reactor.
A small ammount injected into the fusion mix would create a tremendous amount of heat, though if it could create enough to have a sustained fusion reaction I don't know.

[Kuroneko]

Antimatter could be used to speed up fusion in a fusion reactor.
A small ammount injected into the fusion mix would create a tremendous amount of heat, though if it could create enough to have a sustained fusion reaction I don't know.

Unless it's very low mass antimatter particles (e.g. positrons), fission would be by far better suited for that purpose, since what is the necessary is for the fusionable fuel to absorb that energy, which would not be possible with the highly energetic γ-rays antimatter typically emits. While containment of such γ-rays is possible with enough mass, it is very unwise to do it with fusionable material, as it would turn the reactor into essentially a gigantic thermonuclear bomb.

By the way, the threshold energies of fusionable particles are but a small fraction of the energy produced. Therefore, as long as the fuel is contained, fusion will be self-sustaining for however long there is fuel left.

The problem, of course, is making a containment system that uses less energy than what one receives from the fusion.

[kojikun]

The problem, of course, is making a containment system that uses less energy than what one receives from the fusion.

If that were so then my little fusion reactor here would be lighting my house.