NEED HELP ON ANTIPARTICLES

[MaxFusion16]

Hi all you wisemen, please provide your wisdom on this particular physics topic. I'm doing a project on antiparticles, and I can't find much infomation on it. I've already posted a thread in the off topic forum, some members suggested that I might try my luck here. So please share any information you might about it and provide links if possible. I would like to know about it's theories, laws, experiments, applications, and such.

Thanks.

 

[PowerMacG5]

An antiparticle is just what its' name implies. It is the opposite of a "normal" particle. It has the opposite charge, etc... Every know particle, has an antiparticle of the same mass, but different charge. Here is a small list of particles and antiparticles:
Proton - Antiproton
Electron - Positron
Neutron - Antineutron
Quark - Antiquark
etc...

If you do a search for "antimatter" in a search engine you should find what your looking for

 

[MaxFusion16]

are antiparticles and antimatter the same?
are they the same as particles and matter?
like particles make up matter, so antiparticles make up antimatter?

 

[dighn]

Originally posted by: MaxFusion16
are antiparticles and antimatter the same?
are they the same as particles and matter?
like particles make up matter, so antiparticles make up antimatter?

right

 

[PowerMacG5]

Originally posted by: MaxFusion16
are antiparticles and antimatter the same?
are they the same as particles and matter?
like particles make up matter, so antiparticles make up antimatter?

1 - True (But remember antiparticles make up antimatter)
2 - True
3 - True

 

[rimshaker]

When a particle and its corresponding antiparticle collide, they annihilate each other, creating energy. If enough antimatter can be accumulated and mixed with normal matter, you can theoretically create huge amounts of energy since matter is everywhere. That's what space travel is all about anyway. All you gotta do is channel that energy to move in space. The fundamental concept behind star trek 🙂

 

[PowerMacG5]

1 - With the amount of energy matter and antimatter create when they meet, here is a number I have seen in a few reports, and have seen the calculations. When .5 kg of matter and .5 kg of antimatter meet (1 kg total) they produce 70,000 Terawatts of energy. That's enough energy to run the average American household for 540,000 years.

2 - Not to go all trekky here but the warp core is not based on just matter-antimatter. The reason that matter-antimatter is used is because next to zero-point energy it can potentially create the most amount of energy. In the warp theory created by Miguel Alcubierre (not Zephram Cochrane) he statses that in order to travel faster than light, you must create a "field" around a ship. This field separates space. According to Einstein, nothing that starts out at sub-light speeds can accelerate faster than light. But there exists no "speed-limit" on how fast space can move within space. With the warp field, the space within the warp field carries the ship in the outside space faster than light. The ship remains still because it is within the inside-space.

 

[imgod2u]

A few points to point out. Zero point fluxuation is a relatively small energy fluxuation at points where the energy level should be zero (but isn't because of the Uncertainty Principle). It doesn't actually create all that much energy. However, given that almost every point in the universe has this zero-point effect so the total energy is massive.
Secondly, the "subspace field" in Star Trek is suppose to reduce the observed mass of the ship (the reason accelerating a mass to and beyond lightspeed is because the faster it goes relative to something else, the larger the observed mass). If you reduce mass, you can accelerate to faster speeds without your observed mass approaching infinity (there'd still be a limit but you'd raise the limit). That's why better "subspace fields" would increase warp speeds, it'd reduce your observed mass more and raise the limit of how fast you can travel before your observed mass approaches infinity, so yes there's still a limit.

 

[amok]

Antiparticles have identical mass and spin to "normal" particles, but the opposite electrical charge. This of course makes dealing with chargless particles a bit of a hassle, since they are their own antiparticle (photons, neutrinos, gluons, certain types of mesons, etc.). While it's difficult to provide any real help considering there is a lack of information regarding what you are trying to do with your project, the first place I point any beginner towards regarding particle physics is here.

As for Alcubierre's warp theory, I can't admit to having ever really looked at it. From what I've heard of conversations with friends in the field, it uses a contraction of space-time at one end of the ship, and an expansion of it at the other end to produce a gradient effect, and the ship sort of rides on a space-time wave. This is no doubt an oversimplistic statement, but that was the general idea of what they were saying. They also spoke of problems with some of the assumptions made in the theory. The first is negative energy, which we have never observed outside of ZPF fluctuations, and certainly not in the abundant amounts required. As imgod2u pointed out, zpe is a very small energy source at any one location. Its the total amount that is large. To my knowledge there aren't even theories that suggest it can be concentrated or amplified. The second problem was that there was no real-world evidence to support some of the assumptions made in the theory. Feel free to point out flaws in what I've said, as it was mostly recalled bar conversations with some friends 😉. The theory goes way outside my areas of knowledge, so a more informed explanation would be welcome.

 

[Smilin]

Recommended reading for ya:

A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking.


Should be available in your local library if you don't feel like snatching one up at amazon.com

 

[PowerMacG5]

Originally posted by: amok
As for Alcubierre's warp theory, I can't admit to having ever really looked at it. From what I've heard of conversations with friends in the field, it uses a contraction of space-time at one end of the ship, and an expansion of it at the other end to produce a gradient effect, and the ship sort of rides on a space-time wave. This is no doubt an oversimplistic statement, but that was the general idea of what they were saying. They also spoke of problems with some of the assumptions made in the theory. The first is negative energy, which we have never observed outside of ZPF fluctuations, and certainly not in the abundant amounts required. As imgod2u pointed out, zpe is a very small energy source at any one location. Its the total amount that is large. To my knowledge there aren't even theories that suggest it can be concentrated or amplified. The second problem was that there was no real-world evidence to support some of the assumptions made in the theory. Feel free to point out flaws in what I've said, as it was mostly recalled bar conversations with some friends 😉. The theory goes way outside my areas of knowledge, so a more informed explanation would be welcome.

Your assumptions on Alcubierre's warp theory is correct. To use the star trek version, it uses gravitons in the front of the bubble to contracts space-time, and uses exotic matter (matter with negative mass energy) to expand space-time behing the bubble. The ship then rides in this bubble, and their is no time-dilation, increase in mass, or any other problems associated with accelerating towards the speed of light because the ship is actually sitting still in the space within the bubble.

Zero point energy can be concentrated or amplified. This has been proven with the casimir effect. The casimir effect is a strange occurance that happens when two conductive, but neutral plates are placed extremely close together. The "magically" move together. It is because within the space between the two plates, zero point energy pops in from space, and starts to conduct the plates towards each other. Zero point energy could be used as an energy source by using a very large version on the casimir effect.

 

[amok]

Hehe, I am somewhat familiar with the Casmir effect. However, it isn't exactly an amplification or concentration of energy from the zpf. An energy transfer is more accurate. As for using the casmir effect to produce energy (using large plates), it has been shown conclusively that it isn't practical. You can't reseparate the plates and retain a useable energy cycle. The only way to achieve it would be to not reuse plates, and manufacturing, transport, and installation costs would consume more energy than you can generate in that manner.

imo, the casmir effect is only useful as a data point for the development of ZPF theory and by extension QFT.