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Zaimat
Dev. Team
Joined: 08 Aug 2003
Posts: 350
Location: Canada
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 Posted: Mon Oct 04, 2004 8:06 pm Post subject: Antimatter weapons |
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Air Force pursuing antimatter weapons
The U.S. Air Force is quietly spending millions of dollars investigating ways to use a radical power source -- antimatter, the eerie "mirror" of ordinary matter -- in future weapons. |
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2004/10/04/MNGM393GPK1.DTL
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Therlun
Vanguard
Joined: 07 Aug 2004
Posts: 137
Location: Germany
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| Posted: Tue Oct 05, 2004 2:58 am Post subject: |
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and what would mankind do with antimatter if we really get it one day?(besides the military use)
we would cook water with it (-> to drive turbines) ...
IMO the future lies not in larger ammounts of energy, but in the use of the overwhelmingly large parts of energy which are "lost". (light bulb example)
the time of the physics will end! and the rise of chemistry and, partly, biology will come!!  |
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Sim-Mania
Vanguard
Joined: 07 Aug 2004
Posts: 92
Location: Australia
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| Posted: Sat Oct 09, 2004 4:43 am Post subject: |
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| How about Dark Matter, I'm sure there would have to be some kind of government project trying to unlock the secrets to dark matter. ie new power sorce, military applications. ect |
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Sp0ck
Voyager
Joined: 26 Oct 2004
Posts: 7
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| Posted: Tue Oct 26, 2004 7:48 pm Post subject: |
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The goverment of the USA isn't very interrested in finding new, alternative power sources (they have enough sources of natural fules and don't concern about the enviroment, see Kyoto). I would rather look after the developpment of fusion powersources, with the new processor technologies (e.g. cell) we have much more calculation power to calculate plasma simulations what is essentially to develop fusion powerplants.
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| How about Dark Matter, I'm sure there would have to be some kind of government project trying to unlock the secrets to dark matter. |
Today the only proof that there has to be dark matter is that otherwise our universe would collapse.
Same with dark energy. Our universe is expanding - why when there is so much matter in it? simple: dark energy 
[edit]sry, for highjacking your post, that article is very interresting, there are others about "strange" investment of the US military but I only know german links...  [/edit] |
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Quantum
Explorer
Joined: 20 May 2005
Posts: 10
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| Posted: Fri Jun 17, 2005 12:35 am Post subject: |
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| One reason may be that if positrons and electrons get together -- boom. Driving a positively charged nucleus into another one is a bit harder to start. Usually, you need huge forces and huge containments for anything fusion. On the other hand, for positrons and electrons the reverse problem would happen -- how do we keep them apart until the right time? My guess is that it would be more toward a bomb or a trigger for one than anything else. By the way, research on fusion is progressing constantly, but it isn't heavily funded. Why? The people in energy have their monopoly and probably don't want to give it up. |
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Goby
Voyager
Joined: 08 Nov 2006
Posts: 1
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| Posted: Wed Nov 08, 2006 12:39 am Post subject: |
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JUST TO FILL YOU IN WE AS MANKIND HAVE LESS THEN 0.1 GRAMS OF ANTIMATTER (LEARNED THAT FROM HISTORY CHANNEL) AND IT CAN BE USED AS A ENERGY SOURCE BECUASE WHEN IT MEETS MATTER YOU GET 100% OF THE POTENTOIL ENERGY.
YES I AM A COMPLETE NERD....
AS a edit i did not read the above posts i dont know whats been said |
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lemonlime
Voyager
Joined: 17 Feb 2007
Posts: 1
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| Posted: Sat Feb 17, 2007 3:40 pm Post subject: |
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| Unlike regular nuclear bombs, positron bombs wouldn't eject plumes of radioactive debris. When large numbers of positrons and antielectrons collide, the primary product is an invisible but extremely dangerous burst of gamma radiation. Thus, in principle, a positron bomb could be a step toward one of the military's dreams from the early Cold War: a so-called "clean" superbomb that could kill large numbers of soldiers without ejecting radioactive contaminants over the countryside. |
I think the author is a bit confused.
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Qev
Voyager
Joined: 17 Mar 2007
Posts: 2
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| Posted: Sat Mar 17, 2007 8:14 pm Post subject: |
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| lemonlime wrote: |
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| Unlike regular nuclear bombs, positron bombs wouldn't eject plumes of radioactive debris. When large numbers of positrons and antielectrons collide, the primary product is an invisible but extremely dangerous burst of gamma radiation. Thus, in principle, a positron bomb could be a step toward one of the military's dreams from the early Cold War: a so-called "clean" superbomb that could kill large numbers of soldiers without ejecting radioactive contaminants over the countryside. |
I think the author is a bit confused. |
No, the author actually has the right of it, there.
While gamma rays are radiation (just like any frequency of the EM spectrum, albeit the most energetic), they do not usually induce radioactivity in other materials (unlike neutron radiation), nor are they radioisotopes which linger and contaminate the environment (unlike the byproducts of fission/fusion-based weapons). So in this aspect, they would make 'clean' weapons: a quick, devastating burst of gamma radiation, with no fallout or other radioactive contamination.
Personally, I see that as almost a bad feature of such things. Fallout is one of those things that prevents us from actually -using- nukes.  |
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