[stevesnj]

This is scary...looks like anti-matter weapons make nukes look like spitballs

Link

[turtle777]

Why is everything first invented and used for war ?

-t

[Scientist]

From the article:
It almost defies belief, the amount of explosive force available in a speck of antimatter -- even a speck that is too small to see. For example: One millionth of a gram of positrons contain as much energy as 37.8 kilograms (83 pounds) of TNT, according to Edwards' March speech. A simple calculation, then, shows that about 50-millionths of a gram could generate a blast equal to the explosion (roughly 4,000 pounds of TNT, according to the FBI) at the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City in 1995.

This'll make it really easy for the "terrorists".

[Lancer409]

Wow...

[Xeo]

Originally posted by turtle777:


Why is everything first invented and used for war ?

-t

I don't know, but I guess we should be grateful. We'd have so much less if it wasn't for war. Apparently the only true motivator is trying to kill someone who's trying to kill you.

[turtle777]

Originally posted by Xeo:
I don't know, but I guess we should be grateful. We'd have so much less if it wasn't for war. Apparently the only true motivator is trying to kill someone who's trying to kill you.

It's sad, but true.
We'd had so much less pain, terror, victims etc.

Wait, that's not what you meant...

-t

[FulcrumPilot]

ok, sounds promising, but will it get those damned cockroaches as well?

[turtle777]

Originally posted by FulcrumPilot:
ok, sounds promising, but will it get those damned cockroaches as well?

What country is that ?

-t

[Demonhood]

anti-matter is central to the popular book Angels & Demons. a good read, btw.

[stevesnj]

I think the UN should at least ban the research on anti-matter weapons...and make the USA a prime banning target...we don't need these weapons.

[olePigeon]

Nuclear Weapons are so last millennia.

[Xeo]

Originally posted by stevesnj:
I think the UN should at least ban the research on anti-matter weapons...and make the USA a prime banning target...we don't need these weapons.

You are right. But I'm sure it is easier to make anti-matter weapons first (create the energy and just let it go, happens to destroy everything around it), and then figure out how to harvest it. Harvesting it would be awesome. Imagine all the things we could power.

[Zimmerman]

"In the meantime, the Air Force has been investigating the possibility of making use of a powerful positron-generating accelerator under development at Washington State University in Pullman, Wash. One goal: to see if positrons generated by the accelerator can be stored for long periods inside a new type of "antimatter trap" proposed by scientists, including Washington State physicist Kelvin Lynn, head of the school's Center for Materials Research."

WSU. Cool. Thats my school.

[olePigeon]

"Maybe now you'll never slime a guy with a positron glider, eh?!"

[Xeo]

Originally posted by Zimmerman:
"In the meantime, the Air Force has been investigating the possibility of making use of a powerful positron-generating accelerator under development at Washington State University in Pullman, Wash. One goal: to see if positrons generated by the accelerator can be stored for long periods inside a new type of "antimatter trap" proposed by scientists, including Washington State physicist Kelvin Lynn, head of the school's Center for Materials Research."

WSU. Cool. Thats my school.

Well go talk to Lynn and get the scoop!

[cold_reality]

Originally posted by Xeo:
I don't know, but I guess we should be grateful. We'd have so much less if it wasn't for war. Apparently the only true motivator is trying to kill someone who's trying to kill you.

Personally I would have preferred never to know. We wouldn't have to get off of this planet if it wasn't for technology. Think about it, everything that man discovers he must sacrifice something for. And if it is important enough it is usually lives that are sacrificed.

Think of how many animals and people died in the pursuit of better drugs. The automobile: hundreds of people die every year from its creation. Nuclear power: one of the most major discoveries for mankind. Hiroshima death toll reached 140,000 and Nagasaki was an estimated 70,000 dead.

I wonder what we will have to sacrifice for Anti-matter, 1 million lives, a billion, maybe this planet. I don't think its worth it.

[Ratm]

Originally posted by stevesnj:
This is scary...looks like anti-matter weapons make nukes look like spitballs

Link

indeed.

[Xeo]

Originally posted by cold_reality:
Personally I would have preferred never to know. We wouldn't have to get off of this planet if it wasn't for technology. Think about it, everything that man discovers he must sacrifice something for. And if it is important enough it is usually lives that are sacrificed.

Think of how many animals and people died in the pursuit of better drugs. The automobile: hundreds of people die every year from its creation. Nuclear power: one of the most major discoveries for mankind. Hiroshima death toll reached 140,000 and Nagasaki was an estimated 70,000 dead.

I wonder what we will have to sacrifice for Anti-matter, 1 million lives, a billion, maybe this planet. I don't think its worth it.

You say that as you type on your computer, probably drove your car to work today, and are probably vaccinated for who knows how many diseases.

Speaking of vaccinations, how many people died before from the diseases themselves? Is that a better world?

I agree that it's too bad lives are wasted for these technologies. It would be nice if peace was motivation enough for these things.

[Shaddim]

Originally posted by stevesnj:
I think the UN should at least ban the research on anti-matter weapons...and make the USA a prime banning target...we don't need these weapons.

Because you just know the US would obey that "order". Right?


very funny.

[CharlesS]

Originally posted by Xeo:
You are right. But I'm sure it is easier to make anti-matter weapons first (create the energy and just let it go, happens to destroy everything around it), and then figure out how to harvest it. Harvesting it would be awesome. Imagine all the things we could power.

The problem, if I understand it correctly, is that antimatter isn't a naturally occurring resource like uranium is. You have to make it. And in doing so, you have to put all the energy in that you're going to get out. So it's great if what you want to do is build up a lot of energy over time, and then use it all at once. Which is very handy for, um, killing a lot of people very quickly. Not sure what we would gain by harvesting it since we'd have to put the energy into it in the first place. Maybe to power a spaceship, like this guy from the article says:

Besides, Lynn is enthusiastic about antimatter because he believes it could propel futuristic space rockets.

"I think," he said, "we need to get off this planet, because I'm afraid we're going to destroy it."

[TheBadgerHunter]

Isn't that funny, the only power source capable of destroying our little globe is also the only technology that can get us off it.

[Superchicken]

So lets see... when will we simply blow up the planet?

Dang I'm glad I have something to look forward to after all the nut jobies have blown me up.

[Rev-O]

As a card carrying member of Americans United for No Tomorrow, I think this is excellent. Perhaps you've heard of us? A.U.N.T.? Or even our rallying chant:
1,2,3,4 I wanna nuclear war!
5,6,7,8 I wanna radiate!

Will have to revise this chant now, because, apparently, nukes are so yesterday.

[The Oracle]

Originally posted by olePigeon:
"Maybe now you'll never slime a guy with a positron glider, eh?!"

Isn't it 'positron collider'?

[mitchell_pgh]

These weapons seem much better then nuclear weapons.

Think of energy sources where there wasn't nuclear waste.

I would also rather see is killing each other with clean bombs vs. nuclear waste bombs (if I had to choose one).

[spatterson]

Originally posted by Demonhood:
anti-matter is central to the popular book Angels & Demons. a good read, btw.

Yeah thats what I first thought about when I read the title of this thread... LOL... I was thinking someone just started the book.

[spatterson]

Originally posted by The Oracle:
Isn't it 'positron collider'?

Sounds right. They have been building one in Switzerland at CERN. The tube is kilometers long

[G4ME]

FLUBBER

[macaddict0001]

I've alway's thought antimatter was cool.
ion engine's are more likely they will be powered by nuclear reacters

[djohnson]

Originally posted by spatterson:
Sounds right. They have been building one in Switzerland at CERN. The tube is kilometers long

The Swiss are building a machine that will create anti-matter?

Warp engines here we come BTW, maybe this has some connections with NASA's theoretical engine development?

[The Windozer]

I for one don't care about these antimatter thingies.

I just wish they'd hurry up and invent those machines that makes all kinds of food out of energy and are voice activated. That way I'd be able to spend much more quality time with my computer.

[Gee4orce]

Originally posted by spatterson:
Sounds right. They have been building one in Switzerland at CERN. The tube is kilometers long

...and there is a slight but realistic danger that they could accidentally create a black hole or something even more devastating.

In my opinion this sort of thing answers the Fermi paradox - where are all the aliens ? The answer: they get to right about our stage of development and discover something that accidentally blows up the planet !

[MilkmanDan]

Warp drive anyone?

Or maybe antimatter powers 7 of 9's borg breast implants. Either way, its a brave new world.

[moonmonkey]

Originally posted by Demonhood:
anti-matter is central to the popular book Angels & Demons. a good read, btw.

Great book, same Author (Dan Brown) as the more famous "The Da Vinci Code"

Angels and Demons would make a great action movie.

[CharlesS]

Originally posted by Gee4orce:
...and there is a slight but realistic danger that they could accidentally create a black hole or something even more devastating.

In my opinion this sort of thing answers the Fermi paradox - where are all the aliens ? The answer: they get to right about our stage of development and discover something that accidentally blows up the planet !

Or they make really powerful bombs that end up killing everyone on the planet not so accidentally come the next major war.

[CD Hanks]

Originally posted by Demonhood:
anti-matter is central to the popular book Angels & Demons. a good read, btw.

After reading the first paragraph of the plot synopsis, I got a really strong "DaVinci Code" vibe off of it.

Originally posted by stevesnj:
I think the UN should at least ban the research on anti-matter weapons...and make the USA a prime banning target...we don't need these weapons.

Yeah, but wouldn't this only apply to countries that subscribe to the UN? I do believe there are a lot of wacky little countries/factions that would love to research this to develop a weapon, while the rest of the civilized world is caught with its pants down.

Originally posted by Xeo:
You are right. But I'm sure it is easier to make anti-matter weapons first (create the energy and just let it go, happens to destroy everything around it), and then figure out how to harvest it. Harvesting it would be awesome. Imagine all the things we could power.

Precisely! If this is to be another stepping stone towards humanity finding a clean, abundant energy supply, then so be it!

Originally posted by cold_reality:
Personally I would have preferred never to know. We wouldn't have to get off of this planet if it wasn't for technology. Think about it, everything that man discovers he must sacrifice something for. And if it is important enough it is usually lives that are sacrificed.

Think of how many animals and people died in the pursuit of better drugs. The automobile: hundreds of people die every year from its creation. Nuclear power: one of the most major discoveries for mankind. Hiroshima death toll reached 140,000 and Nagasaki was an estimated 70,000 dead.

I wonder what we will have to sacrifice for Anti-matter, 1 million lives, a billion, maybe this planet. I don't think its worth it.

With that kind of mentality, we as a species wouldn��t have accomplished anything, ever. But that's also why you're not in charge.

Originally posted by Superchicken:
So lets see... when will we simply blow up the planet?

Dang I'm glad I have something to look forward to after all the nut jobies have blown me up.

Cause hey, if it weren't for pessimism, religion wouldn't have grasped the massive foothold it currently possesses! (am i rite?) Also I find it rather interesting that in a situation that would involve everyone on earth dying; you're a bit more concerned about "me" being blown up.

Originally posted by TheBadgerHunter:
Isn't that funny, the only power source capable of destroying our little globe is also the only technology that can get us off it.

It��s funny for a moment or two. But when you think about it, any technology that will let us tap into vast amounts of energy would also contain the ability to destroy us.

Originally posted by moonmonkey:
Great book, same Author (Dan Brown) as the more famous "The Da Vinci Code"

Angels and Demons would make a great action movie.

Ah, I get it now.

[olePigeon]

Originally posted by The Oracle:
Isn't it 'positron collider'?

Not in the movie.

[rozwado1]

I want an anti-matter powered iPod.

[eklipse]

Anti-matter weapons

Um....why?

[An Alias]

This is great news, let's start a new arms race. Hey, while we're at it, let's destroy previous non-proliferation agreements like Bushy has done already. Even better, let's go tell N.Korea and Iran they can't have nukes because they are very, very bad people; but we'll let Israel continue to have them, and we'll continue to build even more great ways to murder people on the pretext that it's about protecting our freedoms.

Here's to hypocrisy, alive and kicking in the ol' US of A!!!

[d.fine]

We have such creative potential, nothing is out of our reach, I just HATE the fact that humanity spends sooooo much imagination, time and money on weapons, weapons & weapons ...

[xi_hyperon]

shopping list:

- warp drive
- anti-matter for warp drive
- decommisioned peacekeeper ICBM and silo
- lots of titanium (cockpit, warp nacelles)

hmm... I've got this TiBook. That's a start.

[stevesnj]

Originally posted by mitchell_pgh:
These weapons seem much better then nuclear weapons.

Think of energy sources where there wasn't nuclear waste.

I would also rather see is killing each other with clean bombs vs. nuclear waste bombs (if I had to choose one).

Your joking right?!?!

[TheBadgerHunter]

Originally posted by d.fine:
We have such creative potential, nothing is out of our reach, I just HATE the fact that humanity spends sooooo much imagination, time and money on weapons, weapons & weapons ...

Wouldn't worry too much. Anti-matter is hard enough to produce and has a high enough yield to be rather impractical for a weapon. I really don't see how there could be any advantage over nukes.

[angelmb]

Originally posted by Demonhood:
anti-matter is central to the popular book Angels & Demons. a good read, btw.

I have read it today, it came later so far to my country that Da Vinci Code, and previous Dan Brown�s book are still 'waiting' to be published here in Spain. I liked the book, go figure my face once I read the news about anti-matter weapons !

Da Vinci Code film have been anounced, not sure about Angels & Demons

[cold_reality]

Originally posted by CD Hanks:

With that kind of mentality, we as a species wouldn��t have accomplished anything, ever. But that's also why you're not in charge.

Where as I'm sure you are one of those people that thought the dropping of the A-bomb on a civilian population of mostly women and children as a necessary thing. And after the horrors that were unleashed, hide behind the phrase: "We had no choice"

Personally I would rather NOT bear witness to the apocalypse.
But hey 3 cheers for the pursuit of knowledge at any cost. Human lives be damned, I don't care how many people I have to kill to know some meaningless bit of knowledge...as long as it isn't me of course...

[Xeo]

Originally posted by cold_reality:
Where as I'm sure you are one of those people that thought the dropping of the A-bomb on a civilian population of mostly women and children as a necessary thing. And after the horrors that were unleashed, hide behind the phrase: "We had no choice"

Personally I would rather NOT bear witness to the apocalypse.
But hey 3 cheers for the pursuit of knowledge at any cost. Human lives be damned, I don't care how many people I have to kill to know some meaningless bit of knowledge...as long as it isn't me of course...

Personally, I think the atomic bomb dropping on Japan was a huge waste of time and completely unnecessary. The reasons why can be left to a different thread.

But I will say that to me, knowledge is more important than ignorance. If to remain safe means to remain ignorant, then I'll take my chances with danger.

[CharlesS]

Originally posted by Xeo:
Personally, I think the atomic bomb dropping on Japan was a huge waste of time

A waste of time? Not human life, but time?

[Xeo]

Originally posted by CharlesS:
A waste of time? Not human life, but time?

Literally, the time put in wasn't of much importance, but generally when referring to something as a waste of time it's meant that the purpose and outcome of the event was so pointless that the time used to pull it off could have been better spent on something else.

[TheBadgerHunter]

Originally posted by cold_reality:
Where as I'm sure you are one of those people that thought the dropping of the A-bomb on a civilian population of mostly women and children as a necessary thing. And after the horrors that were unleashed, hide behind the phrase: "We had no choice"

Personally I would rather NOT bear witness to the apocalypse.
But hey 3 cheers for the pursuit of knowledge at any cost. Human lives be damned, I don't care how many people I have to kill to know some meaningless bit of knowledge...as long as it isn't me of course...

Uh, the discovery of anti-matter wasn't driven by war. It exists. Even if everyone pretended it didn't exist someone, somewhere, would eventually discover it. We currently HAVE weapons that are arguably more devastating than anti-matter and yet we use far more primitive means of killing each-other.