UM-Bot Posted June 5, 2006 #1 Share Posted June 5, 2006 Most self-respecting starships in science fiction stories use antimatter as fuel for a good reason – it’s the most potent fuel known. While tons of chemical fuel are needed to propel a human mission to Mars, just tens of milligrams of antimatter will do (a milligram is about one-thousandth the weight of a piece of the original M&M candy). However, in reality this power comes with a price. Some antimatter reactions produce blasts of high energy gamma rays. View: Full Article | Source: NASA Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian McMalley Posted June 5, 2006 #2 Share Posted June 5, 2006 I've heard bits and pieces of what Anti-matter is, and I'd like clarification. If matter is destroyed when it meets anti-matter, doesn't that throw the conservation of mass theory out the window? Wouldn't that mean that there is more than a definite amount of matter in the universe? Would that mean that matter can be created somehow? I'm just curious. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RamboIII Posted June 5, 2006 #3 Share Posted June 5, 2006 Anti-matter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snuffypuffer Posted June 5, 2006 #4 Share Posted June 5, 2006 What I understand is, antimatter is very hard to produce in anything like to quantities we'd need. So either the Mars mission would require a very, very small amount, or we've found a way to produce it in bigger batches. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Celumnaz Posted June 5, 2006 #5 Share Posted June 5, 2006 Is it true the public finds out about technology like this only after the military has done what it needs to do with it first? If we're learning about this now, could it be possible that working models have been made and used for quite a few years already? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Waspie_Dwarf Posted June 5, 2006 #6 Share Posted June 5, 2006 I've heard bits and pieces of what Anti-matter is, and I'd like clarification. If matter is destroyed when it meets anti-matter, doesn't that throw the conservation of mass theory out the window? Wouldn't that mean that there is more than a definite amount of matter in the universe? Would that mean that matter can be created somehow? I'm just curious. Mass and energy are interchangable, one can be converted to the other, this happens all the time in nuclear reactions. Energy/mass is however conserved. What I understand is, antimatter is very hard to produce in anything like to quantities we'd need. So either the Mars mission would require a very, very small amount, or we've found a way to produce it in bigger batches. You wouldn't need much, which is the attraction, as it says in the original post, just tens of milligrams of antimatter will do (a milligram is about one-thousandth the weight of a piece of the original M&M candy) However we are a long way off of being able to produce even that amount. This is a project for the future. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Waspie_Dwarf Posted June 5, 2006 #7 Share Posted June 5, 2006 Is it true the public finds out about technology like this only after the military has done what it needs to do with it first? In many case of course. The military will make secret any technology which would give it's nation an advantage/put it's nation at risk if in other hands. In this case though the idea of anti-matter propelled spaceships has been around for many decades. The USS Enterprise was powered by anti-matter, and Star Trek started filming in 1966. If we're learning about this now, could it be possible that working models have been made and used for quite a few years already? Highly unlikely. Anti-matter is not something you can knock up easily. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xavie Posted June 5, 2006 #8 Share Posted June 5, 2006 This is truly fascinating. But it was always my understanding that to produce even very small amount (talking about few particles) was way too expensive to be practical at present time and was only done in laboratories to basically prove that it is possible. Incredible! I can’t wait to see where this project will lead and how it will progress. GO NASA!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snuffypuffer Posted June 5, 2006 #9 Share Posted June 5, 2006 I still want my flying robot car. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Waspie_Dwarf Posted June 5, 2006 #10 Share Posted June 5, 2006 This is truly fascinating. But it was always my understanding that to produce even very small amount (talking about few particles) was way too expensive to be practical at present time and was only done in laboratories to basically prove that it is possible. Incredible! I can’t wait to see where this project will lead and how it will progress. GO NASA!!! You are correct, it is far too expensive to do now. This is currently a purely paper exercise (just as organisations were designing rockets to the moon in the 1930's even though the technology was not available). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Graylady Posted June 6, 2006 #11 Share Posted June 6, 2006 http://www.unexplained-mysteries.com/forum...=68932&hl=alien (Part 1) http://www.unexplained-mysteries.com/forum...=70318&hl=alien (Part 2) Alien Engineering...from History channel it talks about anti matter on it... pretty cool.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dowdy Posted June 6, 2006 #12 Share Posted June 6, 2006 How do you store anti-matter because if it touches anything, it gets destroyed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Waspie_Dwarf Posted June 6, 2006 #13 Share Posted June 6, 2006 How do you store anti-matter because if it touches anything, it gets destroyed. Another bit of technology from Star Trek, magnetic confinement. You store it using strong magnetic fields. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian McMalley Posted June 6, 2006 #14 Share Posted June 6, 2006 Anti-matter is created in particle accelerators right? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Waspie_Dwarf Posted June 6, 2006 #15 Share Posted June 6, 2006 Anti-matter is created in particle accelerators right? At the moment yes, but only a few particles at a time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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