Matter/Antimatter reactions

[AgentJean]

They say when antimatter comes into contact with matter they destory each other and create a lot of engery in the process. In order for this reaction to happen does antimatter have to come in contact with it's exact oposite? Meaning if I were to have say a kilogram of anti-uranium and there was a containment breach where normal hydrogen came into contact with it, am I going to have a very bad day or would I only have to worry if normal uranium came into contact with the anti-uranium?

 

[Zolty]

IIRC, the reaction is sub atomic, so it doesn't care how the anti-matter has arraged itself.

 

[feralkid]

Originally posted by: AgentJean
They say when antimatter comes into contact with matter they destory each other and create a lot of engery in the process. In order for this reaction to happen does antimatter have to come in contact with it's exact oposite? Meaning if I were to have say a kilogram of anti-uranium and there was a containment breach where normal hydrogen came into contact with it, am I going to have a very bad day or would I only have to worry if normal uranium came into contact with the anti-uranium?

It doesn't create energy; it releases energy.

 

[sao123]

Originally posted by: AgentJean
They say when antimatter comes into contact with matter they destory each other and create a lot of engery in the process. In order for this reaction to happen does antimatter have to come in contact with it's exact oposite? Meaning if I were to have say a kilogram of anti-uranium and there was a containment breach where normal hydrogen came into contact with it, am I going to have a very bad day or would I only have to worry if normal uranium came into contact with the anti-uranium?

I dont believe we have any evidence that anti matter will form complex atoms or molecules...they are unstable and annihilate too fast

 

[AgentJean]

Originally posted by: Zolty
IIRC, the reaction is sub atomic, so it doesn't care how the anti-matter has arraged itself.

So that means I would have a bad day if there was a containment breach.

 

[Stiganator]

You would have a very bad day. As well as everything within close proximity vaporizing.

 

[Stiganator]

IIRC, 1 Kg of matter + 1 Kg of anitmatter is equivalent to > hydrogen bomb~ 43 Megatons.


From Wikipedia:
Fuel

In antimatter-matter collisions resulting in photon emission, the entire rest mass of the particles is converted to kinetic energy. The energy per unit mass is about 10 orders of magnitude greater than chemical energy, and about 2 orders of magnitude greater than nuclear energy that can be liberated today using nuclear fission or fusion. The reaction of 1 kg of antimatter with 1 kg of matter would produce 1.8×1017 J (180 petajoules) of energy (by the equation E=mc²). This is about 134 times as much energy as is obtained by nuclear fusion of the same mass of hydrogen (fusion of 1H to 4He produces about 7 MeV per nucleon, or 1.3×1015 J for 2 kg of hydrogen). This amount of energy would be released by burning 5.6 billion liters (1.5 billion US gallons) of gasoline (the combustion of one liter of gasoline in oxygen produces 3.2×107 J), or by detonating 43 million tonnes of TNT (at 4.2×106 J/kg).

Not all of that energy can be utilized by any realistic technology, because as much as 50% of energy produced in reactions between nucleons and antinucleons is carried away by neutrinos, so, for all intents and purposes, it can be considered lost.[2]


Examples

A megaton is a large amount of energy. The atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945 exploded with an energy of about 20 kilotons of TNT (~8.4×1013 joules). Modern nuclear warheads range in yield from 100 kt to 20 Mt TNT equivalent. The largest bomb ever dropped, the Tsar Bomba, had a yield of about 50 Mt.

About 1 Mt equivalent exploded on the ground or slightly above ground creates a crater about 0.3 miles (0.5 km) in diameter and levels practically everything in a few mile or kilometer radius.[citation needed] It is enough to crush underground bunkers at a depth of about 1000 feet.[4] x 43

 

[silverpig]

Originally posted by: sao123

Originally posted by: AgentJean
They say when antimatter comes into contact with matter they destory each other and create a lot of engery in the process. In order for this reaction to happen does antimatter have to come in contact with it's exact oposite? Meaning if I were to have say a kilogram of anti-uranium and there was a containment breach where normal hydrogen came into contact with it, am I going to have a very bad day or would I only have to worry if normal uranium came into contact with the anti-uranium?

I dont believe we have any evidence that anti matter will form complex atoms or molecules...they are unstable and annihilate too fast

We've made anti-hydrogen. Positrons and anti-protons are very stable. There are anti-neutrinos flying around us all the time.

Assuming you could keep it isolated well enough, you should be able to create anti-whatever-you-want.

 

[AgentJean]

Originally posted by: silverpig

Originally posted by: sao123

Originally posted by: AgentJean
They say when antimatter comes into contact with matter they destory each other and create a lot of engery in the process. In order for this reaction to happen does antimatter have to come in contact with it's exact oposite? Meaning if I were to have say a kilogram of anti-uranium and there was a containment breach where normal hydrogen came into contact with it, am I going to have a very bad day or would I only have to worry if normal uranium came into contact with the anti-uranium?

I dont believe we have any evidence that anti matter will form complex atoms or molecules...they are unstable and annihilate too fast

We've made anti-hydrogen. Positrons and anti-protons are very stable. There are anti-neutrinos flying around us all the time.

Assuming you could keep it isolated well enough, you should be able to create anti-whatever-you-want.

So does that there is only a matter/antimatter reaction when anti-hydrogen comes into contact with hydrogen or would the same thing happen if it came into contact with oxygen?

 

[Jeff7]

Originally posted by: AgentJean
So does that there is only a matter/antimatter reaction when anti-hydrogen comes into contact with hydrogen or would the same thing happen if it came into contact with oxygen?

Assuming just one atom of each:
I figure you'd get one hydrogen atom's worth of energy, with 7 protons, 7 electrons, and 8 neutrons left over.

 

[hjo3]

Originally posted by: AgentJean
So does that there is only a matter/antimatter reaction when anti-hydrogen comes into contact with hydrogen or would the same thing happen if it came into contact with oxygen?

The arrangement of the particles doesn't matter -- the anti-proton in an anti-hydrogen atom could react with the proton in a sodium atom.

 

[sao123]

Originally posted by: silverpig

Originally posted by: sao123

Originally posted by: AgentJean
They say when antimatter comes into contact with matter they destory each other and create a lot of engery in the process. In order for this reaction to happen does antimatter have to come in contact with it's exact oposite? Meaning if I were to have say a kilogram of anti-uranium and there was a containment breach where normal hydrogen came into contact with it, am I going to have a very bad day or would I only have to worry if normal uranium came into contact with the anti-uranium?

I dont believe we have any evidence that anti matter will form complex atoms or molecules...they are unstable and annihilate too fast

We've made anti-hydrogen. Positrons and anti-protons are very stable. There are anti-neutrinos flying around us all the time.

Assuming you could keep it isolated well enough, you should be able to create anti-whatever-you-want.

I believe the key word here was complex... when you've made an anti-oxygen... let me know

 

[iamaelephant]

Originally posted by: sao123

Originally posted by: silverpig

Originally posted by: sao123

Originally posted by: AgentJean
They say when antimatter comes into contact with matter they destory each other and create a lot of engery in the process. In order for this reaction to happen does antimatter have to come in contact with it's exact oposite? Meaning if I were to have say a kilogram of anti-uranium and there was a containment breach where normal hydrogen came into contact with it, am I going to have a very bad day or would I only have to worry if normal uranium came into contact with the anti-uranium?

I dont believe we have any evidence that anti matter will form complex atoms or molecules...they are unstable and annihilate too fast

We've made anti-hydrogen. Positrons and anti-protons are very stable. There are anti-neutrinos flying around us all the time.

Assuming you could keep it isolated well enough, you should be able to create anti-whatever-you-want.

I believe the key word here was complex... when you've made an anti-oxygen... let me know

Anti-matter is exactly the same as matter. A positron (anti-electron) is the same mass as an electron but with exactly opposite charge and spin. Same applies with all anti-particles. If the matter/anti-matter ratios at the moment of the big bang were exactly reversed, we would be living in exactly the same world we live in now, only made of anti-matter. Only, we'd call it matter, and the matter we know today would be anti-matter

 

[sao123]

Originally posted by: iamaelephant

Originally posted by: sao123

Originally posted by: silverpig

Originally posted by: sao123

Originally posted by: AgentJean
They say when antimatter comes into contact with matter they destory each other and create a lot of engery in the process. In order for this reaction to happen does antimatter have to come in contact with it's exact oposite? Meaning if I were to have say a kilogram of anti-uranium and there was a containment breach where normal hydrogen came into contact with it, am I going to have a very bad day or would I only have to worry if normal uranium came into contact with the anti-uranium?

I dont believe we have any evidence that anti matter will form complex atoms or molecules...they are unstable and annihilate too fast

We've made anti-hydrogen. Positrons and anti-protons are very stable. There are anti-neutrinos flying around us all the time.

Assuming you could keep it isolated well enough, you should be able to create anti-whatever-you-want.

I believe the key word here was complex... when you've made an anti-oxygen... let me know

Anti-matter is exactly the same as matter. A positron (anti-electron) is the same mass as an electron but with exactly opposite charge and spin. Same applies with all anti-particles. If the matter/anti-matter ratios at the moment of the big bang were exactly reversed, we would be living in exactly the same world we live in now, only made of anti-matter. Only, we'd call it matter, and the matter we know today would be anti-matter

in an anti-matter universe that would occur... I am doubting the same could be accomplished in a matter universe... (IE with our technology as it exists today)

Can you keep anti-matter stable enough to fuse to anti-hydrogens into an anti-helium?
then keep those stable enough to fuse them into an anti-lithium... and so on down the line?

 

[iamaelephant]

Originally posted by: sao123

Originally posted by: iamaelephant

Originally posted by: sao123

Originally posted by: silverpig

Originally posted by: sao123

Originally posted by: AgentJean
They say when antimatter comes into contact with matter they destory each other and create a lot of engery in the process. In order for this reaction to happen does antimatter have to come in contact with it's exact oposite? Meaning if I were to have say a kilogram of anti-uranium and there was a containment breach where normal hydrogen came into contact with it, am I going to have a very bad day or would I only have to worry if normal uranium came into contact with the anti-uranium?

I dont believe we have any evidence that anti matter will form complex atoms or molecules...they are unstable and annihilate too fast

We've made anti-hydrogen. Positrons and anti-protons are very stable. There are anti-neutrinos flying around us all the time.

Assuming you could keep it isolated well enough, you should be able to create anti-whatever-you-want.

I believe the key word here was complex... when you've made an anti-oxygen... let me know

Anti-matter is exactly the same as matter. A positron (anti-electron) is the same mass as an electron but with exactly opposite charge and spin. Same applies with all anti-particles. If the matter/anti-matter ratios at the moment of the big bang were exactly reversed, we would be living in exactly the same world we live in now, only made of anti-matter. Only, we'd call it matter, and the matter we know today would be anti-matter

in an anti-matter universe that would occur... I am doubting the same could be accomplished in a matter universe... (IE with our technology as it exists today)

Can you keep anti-matter stable enough to fuse to anti-hydrogens into an anti-helium?
then keep those stable enough to fuse them into an anti-lithium... and so on down the line?

With todays technology? No. But it will happen one day. We already keep hydrogen atoms, it's only a matter of time. Actually now that I think about it, we may not even bother, it would require billions of dollars of research and development into a fusion reactor designed specifically for antimatter. But it's certainly possible in principle.

 

[ThePresence]

Reading Angels & Demons?

 

[Demon-Xanth]

Originally posted by: Stiganator
IIRC, 1 Kg of matter + 1 Kg of anitmatter is equivalent to > hydrogen bomb~ 43 Megatons.


From Wikipedia:
Fuel

In antimatter-matter collisions resulting in photon emission, the entire rest mass of the particles is converted to kinetic energy. The energy per unit mass is about 10 orders of magnitude greater than chemical energy, and about 2 orders of magnitude greater than nuclear energy that can be liberated today using nuclear fission or fusion. The reaction of 1 kg of antimatter with 1 kg of matter would produce 1.8×1017 J (180 petajoules) of energy (by the equation E=mc²). This is about 134 times as much energy as is obtained by nuclear fusion of the same mass of hydrogen (fusion of 1H to 4He produces about 7 MeV per nucleon, or 1.3×1015 J for 2 kg of hydrogen). This amount of energy would be released by burning 5.6 billion liters (1.5 billion US gallons) of gasoline (the combustion of one liter of gasoline in oxygen produces 3.2×107 J), or by detonating 43 million tonnes of TNT (at 4.2×106 J/kg).

Not all of that energy can be utilized by any realistic technology, because as much as 50% of energy produced in reactions between nucleons and antinucleons is carried away by neutrinos, so, for all intents and purposes, it can be considered lost.[2]


Examples

A megaton is a large amount of energy. The atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945 exploded with an energy of about 20 kilotons of TNT (~8.4×1013 joules). Modern nuclear warheads range in yield from 100 kt to 20 Mt TNT equivalent. The largest bomb ever dropped, the Tsar Bomba, had a yield of about 50 Mt.

About 1 Mt equivalent exploded on the ground or slightly above ground creates a crater about 0.3 miles (0.5 km) in diameter and levels practically everything in a few mile or kilometer radius.[citation needed] It is enough to crush underground bunkers at a depth of about 1000 feet.[4] x 43

So what you're saying is that he wouldn't have a bad day. Just a bad couple of milliseconds.

 

[AMCRambler]

Originally posted by: Demon-Xanth

Originally posted by: Stiganator
IIRC, 1 Kg of matter + 1 Kg of anitmatter is equivalent to > hydrogen bomb~ 43 Megatons.


From Wikipedia:
Fuel

In antimatter-matter collisions resulting in photon emission, the entire rest mass of the particles is converted to kinetic energy. The energy per unit mass is about 10 orders of magnitude greater than chemical energy, and about 2 orders of magnitude greater than nuclear energy that can be liberated today using nuclear fission or fusion. The reaction of 1 kg of antimatter with 1 kg of matter would produce 1.8×1017 J (180 petajoules) of energy (by the equation E=mc²). This is about 134 times as much energy as is obtained by nuclear fusion of the same mass of hydrogen (fusion of 1H to 4He produces about 7 MeV per nucleon, or 1.3×1015 J for 2 kg of hydrogen). This amount of energy would be released by burning 5.6 billion liters (1.5 billion US gallons) of gasoline (the combustion of one liter of gasoline in oxygen produces 3.2×107 J), or by detonating 43 million tonnes of TNT (at 4.2×106 J/kg).

Not all of that energy can be utilized by any realistic technology, because as much as 50% of energy produced in reactions between nucleons and antinucleons is carried away by neutrinos, so, for all intents and purposes, it can be considered lost.[2]


Examples

A megaton is a large amount of energy. The atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945 exploded with an energy of about 20 kilotons of TNT (~8.4×1013 joules). Modern nuclear warheads range in yield from 100 kt to 20 Mt TNT equivalent. The largest bomb ever dropped, the Tsar Bomba, had a yield of about 50 Mt.

About 1 Mt equivalent exploded on the ground or slightly above ground creates a crater about 0.3 miles (0.5 km) in diameter and levels practically everything in a few mile or kilometer radius.[citation needed] It is enough to crush underground bunkers at a depth of about 1000 feet.[4] x 43

So what you're saying is that he wouldn't have a bad day. Just a bad couple of milliseconds.

Or time would start over at the new big bang and he would be the new God!

 

[Demon-Xanth]

Originally posted by: AMCRambler
Or time would start over at the new big bang and he would be the new God!

Now that's a scary thought.

 

[5to1baby1in5]

Supposedly in the big bang, everything was energy at first. Eventually things cooled off enough for matter and anti-matter to form (hydrogen only at first). The matter and anti-matter collided back together and released energy which then re-formed into matter/anti-matter. As the universe expanded and cooled, the ballance of the reaction shifted more towards matter/anti-matter. Scientists theorize that somehow, more matter than anti-matter somehow formed, and that all the matter that's left over today is the excess matter didn't get annihilated by the anti-matter, and there is no natural anti-matter left today.

Or...

Did statistically more matter get thrown into our part of the universe, and anti-matter get sent another direstion. If this were the case, then some of the distant galaxies could be made of anti-matter, have anti-matter suns which fuse anti-hydrogen to anti-helium... and finally anti-lead. These anti-stars could then go supernova to form the heavier anti-elements like lead, gold, plutonium.

 

[kyparrish]

Originally posted by: ThePresence
Reading Angels & Demons?

Thursday's thread from OP...

"Question about amount of drag produced by different sizes of fabric..."

 

[5to1baby1in5]

Originally posted by: Demon-Xanth

Originally posted by: AMCRambler
Or time would start over at the new big bang and he would be the new God!

Now that's a scary thought.

In my post above, there would be an anti-god, and an anti-christ too.

 

[Mark R]

Are there limits on what types of energy conversion can take place?

Classically, the positron-electron anihilation results in 2 photons emitted in approximately opposite directions. Are there circumstances when there might be 3 photons emitted in different directions, such as to conserve momentum?

What about with heavier particles? Presumably, the larger amount of energy available allows all sorts of weirdness - and that you don't just get the classical 2 photon reaction, but get all sorts of neutrinos and showers of small particles.

 

[silverpig]

Originally posted by: sao123

in an anti-matter universe that would occur... I am doubting the same could be accomplished in a matter universe... (IE with our technology as it exists today)

Can you keep anti-matter stable enough to fuse to anti-hydrogens into an anti-helium?
then keep those stable enough to fuse them into an anti-lithium... and so on down the line?

Theoretically? Sure. It's not a question of stability, it's a question of physically keeping the anti-matter isolated. Also, you'd have to fuse hydrogen into helium, and that's difficult to do in a controlled manner. Producing lithium and boron is much more difficult still, and you're only halfway to oxygen at that point.

 

[Braznor]

If the role of antimatter and matter is reversed in this universe, wouldn't time have to flow backward too?

I could be wrong though, but I do recall that it's not simple to replace matter with antimatter and not knowing the difference in this universe unless the flow of time is reversed when dealing with antimatter.