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Clear White Light
USA
229 Posts |
 Posted - Nov 17 2010 : 9:59:55 PM
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For those of you who may be interested, researchers at CERN's Large Hadron Collider have finally succeed in producing antimatter particles in sufficient quantities to be measured. 38 of them to be precise. Although the existence of antimatter has long been known, scientists have never had the appropriate technology to be able to study it without it decaying too fast for their instrumentation to record any useful data. However, with the LHC, this has all changed. For those of you who are scientifically minded, I'm sure this goes without saying... But I'll say it anyway; This is going to be BIG. Possibly the most significant scientific achievement in over 100 years.
Here's a link with more info: http://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/...ms-trap.html |
Edited by - Clear White Light on Nov 17 2010 10:33:41 PM |
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Scott
USA
969 Posts |
Posted - Nov 18 2010 : 01:56:54 AM
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| Really interesting. |
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amoux
United Kingdom
266 Posts |
Posted - Nov 18 2010 : 07:21:52 AM
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I read about this on the BBC website yesterday - I'm so glad others are excited about it too  It's an extraordinary achievement, and I agree - this is definitely going to be big. Ginormous, in fact  |
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Clear White Light
USA
229 Posts |
Posted - Nov 18 2010 : 07:42:03 AM
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| I think it is interesting how antimatter particles become annihilated the moment they come into contact with any form of non-anti-matter. Why is it that only the antimatter particles are "annihilated?" Obviously they aren't really destroyed; that would go contrary to the laws of thermodynamics, and currently there is no evidence to suggest that antimatter behaves fundamentally different from matter. |
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machart
USA
342 Posts |
Posted - Nov 18 2010 : 08:14:37 AM
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quote:
Originally posted by Clear White Light
I think it is interesting how antimatter particles become annihilated the moment they come into contact with any form of non-anti-matter. Why is it that only the antimatter particles are "annihilated?" Obviously they aren't really destroyed; that would go contrary to the laws of thermodynamics, and currently there is no evidence to suggest that antimatter behaves fundamentally different from matter.
I thought when anti-matter and matter particles collided they gave off electromagnetic energy via E=mc^2 i.e. both the anti-matter and matter particles are "annihilated" i.e. converted to energy ...not just the anti-matter particle.
You could think of it as matter and anti-matter colliding giving off..."Clear White Light" ;-) |
Edited by - machart on Nov 18 2010 08:23:01 AM |
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Clear White Light
USA
229 Posts |
Posted - Nov 18 2010 : 08:51:05 AM
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quote:
Originally posted by machart
I thought when anti-matter and matter particles collided they gave off electromagnetic energy via E=mc^2 i.e. both the anti-matter and matter particles are "annihilated" i.e. converted to energy ...not just the anti-matter particle.
You could think of it as matter and anti-matter colliding giving off..."Clear White Light" ;-)
Ordinarily that is how the idea is presented. This is why it was confusing to me. If that were true than the instrumentation that CERN used to analyze the antimatter would be destroyed in the experiment. When the antimatter particles come into contact with the edges of the containment unit, the antimatter particles are annihilated but the containment unit (based on what I have read) is unaffected.
This is actually not the first time antimatter particles have been created. Scientists have been creating them for almost 20 years. However, the LHC is able to create such strong magnetic fields and such cold temperatures that they are able to slow the movement of the antimatter particles from the center of the containment unit to the inner walls to a slow enough rate to be measured. |
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machart
USA
342 Posts |
Posted - Nov 18 2010 : 8:32:01 PM
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quote:
Originally posted by Clear White Light
If that were true than the instrumentation that CERN used to analyze the antimatter would be destroyed in the experiment. When the antimatter particles come into contact with the edges of the containment unit, the antimatter particles are annihilated but the containment unit (based on what I have read) is unaffected.
The mass of the anti-matter is so small that not much energy is given off..
One researcher of the CERN laboratories, which produces antimatter regularly, said:
If we could assemble all of the antimatter we've ever made at CERN and annihilate it with matter, we would have enough energy to light a single electric light bulb for a few minutes. |
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Clear White Light
USA
229 Posts |
Posted - Nov 18 2010 : 9:06:41 PM
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quote:
Originally posted by machart
[quote]The mass of the anti-matter is so small that not much energy is given off..
One researcher of the CERN laboratories, which produces antimatter regularly, said:
If we could assemble all of the antimatter we've ever made at CERN and annihilate it with matter, we would have enough energy to light a single electric light bulb for a few minutes.
Yeah, I don't know why I didn't think of that straight away. The amount of matter nullified in the exchange would have to be proportionate to the amount of antimatter created; which is an insignificant amount. |
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manigma
India
1065 Posts |
Posted - Nov 19 2010 : 07:36:15 AM
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Antimatter explained in an easier way. For guys like me.
http://livefromcern.web.cern.ch/liv...-kids02.html
What Happens When Matter and Antimatter Meet?
Matter and antimatter, or we should probably say particles and antiparticles, don't seem to like each other very much. If they get too close, they destroy each other, disappearing in a kind of explosion.
Or may be it's the opposite: they like each other so much that when they finally meet, it's just an explosion of joy!
One way or the other (I guess we will never know), but there is definitely something "hot" going on: both particle and antiparticle disappear, leaving behind the energy they were made of. Physicists call this "annihilation".
We can think back to our "playdough" example: we cut out a star, and its "negative image" appeared in the dough. If we now put the star back in its "negative image " hole, there are no more stars, and all our original dough (=energy) is back! |
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karl
United Kingdom
1812 Posts |
Posted - Nov 19 2010 : 3:54:23 PM
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It's worth reading Gevin Giobrian - everything forever.
This is the story of symmetry and the potential for a radical shift in mathematics for cosmological events.
Gevin proposes that zero becomes the number which contains all numbers. Zero does not imply nothing, but the very start of the Universe which contained everything.
I won't try and explain it because it's one of those books that have to be read and re-read in the same way as understanding Einsteins theory of relativity (you can explain the idea, but when you get to a practical example the poor old mind leaps off a cliff trying to grapple with pure weirdness).
Although I can't understand it as a mathmatician, I can understand that there is something inherently right about his theory, because somewhere in my mind it resonates. |
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manigma
India
1065 Posts |
Posted - Nov 20 2010 : 02:21:25 AM
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I guess the Isha Upanishad also mentions this Matter-Antimatter stuff:
THE ONE SELF NEVER MOVES,
YET IS TOO SWIFT FOR THE MIND.
THE SENSES CANNOT REACH IT,
YET IT IS EVER BEYOND THEIR GRASP.
REMAINING STILL, IT OUTSTRIPS ALL ACTIVITY,
YET IN IT RESTS THE BREATH OF ALL THAT MOVES.
IT MOVES, YET MOVES NOT.
IT IS FAR, YET IT IS NEAR.
IT IS WITHIN ALL THIS,
AND YET WITHOUT ALL THIS.
AUM
INFINITY IS THAT.
INFINITY IS THIS.
FROM INFINITY, INFINITY HAS COME INTO EXISTENCE.
FROM INFINITY, WHEN INFINITY IS TAKEN AWAY,
INFINITY REMAINS.
http://balbro.com/iam/
It is far, yet it is near.
Far to the mind, near to the heart.
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Antimatter isolated and studied for the first time
