For Starship, using B9 and later, how will separation work if the Hydrualic Power Units are no longer needed for the TVC System? The results of this latest experiment show that a property of the antiproton (called its magnetic moment) is identical in magnitude to the magnetic moment of its proton counterpart to within a precision of just a couple of parts per billion. Antimatter is actually produce by all sorts of things, for instance bananas produce antimatter. The total power of aluminized mixtures strictly depends on the condition of explosions. But case 2 deserves a better answer after all anti-matter is not cheap and they are always out of stock at Home Depot. A positron powered spaceship would be simpler, and less dangerous than say a nuclear powered spaceship which comes with a lot more complications. Learn how and when to remove this template message, Antimatter-catalyzed nuclear pulse propulsion, "Air Force pursuing antimatter weapons / Program was touted publicly, then came official gag order", "Laser technique produces bevy of antimatter", "Details on antimatter triggered fusion bombs - NextBigFuture.com", "Angels & Demons: The Physics Behind The Movie (and The Book)", "Air Force pursuing antimatter weapons: Program was touted publicly, then came official gag order", Page discussing the possibility of using antimatter as a trigger for a thermonuclear explosion, Paper discussing the number of antiprotons required to ignite a thermonuclear weapon, Safety of high-energy particle collision experiments, Existential risk from artificial intelligence, Self-Indication Assumption Doomsday argument rebuttal, Self-referencing doomsday argument rebuttal, List of dates predicted for apocalyptic events, List of apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Antimatter_weapon&oldid=1139434888, Short description is different from Wikidata, Articles needing additional references from August 2020, All articles needing additional references, Articles containing potentially dated statements from 2004, All articles containing potentially dated statements, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 15 February 2023, at 03:22. I mean, in Star Trek, they use Matter/Antimatter reactions to power their starships, it's pretty powerful. In John Barnes' excellent Thousand Cultures series, the ultimate nasty weapon is the teleportation of antimatter into the atmosphere as a very fine dust spread over a large volume. We could make this happen if we work at it. The ton of TNT is a unit of energy defined by that convention to be 4.184 gigajoules, [1] which is the approximate energy released in the detonation of a metric ton (1,000 kilograms) of TNT. Approximately 10 grams of antiprotons would be enough fuel to send a manned spacecraft to Mars in one month. barrels of oil. In order to reach the core we would have to send it 4,000 miles down. Check out 477 similar physics calculators, Social Media Time Alternatives Calculator. Where can I find a clear diagram of the SPECK algorithm? There are two surefire ways. Currently we use fusion not antimatter, however whereas fusion only converts 1% of the fuels mass energy into thrust, antimatter can convert 40%. Simple? Let's shoot to heat up the atmosphere by 200K; there's no way anyone's surviving that. 1 gram of antimatter explosion radius. It's also likely the most explosive substance on the planet. At the moment of the Big Bang, all the energy of the Universe was concentrated and exploded. If the null hypothesis is never really true, is there a point to using a statistical test without a priori power analysis? WAY too much. Small TNT explosions, especially in the open, don't tend to burn the carbon-particle and hydrocarbon products of the explosion. After a bit of number crunching that means agram of antiprotonantimatter would cost an absurd 5 quadrillion euros. thanks for the detailed answer! NASA have actually started planning to use antimatter spaceships to go to space. Antimatter annihilation from anti-hydrogen is surprisingly messy: it will not be pure gamma rays. For example, if a timber-cutting formula calls for a charge of 1kg of TNT, then based on octanitrocubane's RE factor of 2.38, it would take only 1.0/2.38 (or 0.42) kg of it to do the same job. One in every million collisions creates a proton-antiproton pair. What if I had a gram? For instance, the antimatter equivalent to the electron is called the positron. Given how difficult it is to make antimatter, this is probably the only way could do so using antimatter within the next 100 years. As of now an antimatter bomb, large enough to cause any damage, wont be made because its just so expensive to make. With about 100,000 ships out there, that's a lot of survivors. However for only $600,000 you could fit a 10 millionth of a gram of antimatter into a snipers bullet. They did it by creating a magnetic bottle called a Minimum Magnetic Field Trap. The blast radius becomes a critical parameter in such scenarios. Under controlled conditions one kilogram of TNT can destroy (or even obliterate) a small vehicle. Electron + positron = 2 * gamma going opposite directions and having nearly the same energy of electron + positron mass-energies. If antimatter makes contact with air it will cause an explosion. in high school, I've been fascinated by the idea that Antimatter is pretty explosive. "Perhaps, just under four billion years ago, the Earth could have been hit by asteroids up to 400 kilometers across, forty times bigger than the one that is supposed to have been responsible for the K/T extinctions. Thankfully, outside the realms of science fiction, we won't see antimatter destroying cities anytime soon. All I've ever read is science fiction, and they seem to be wildly wildly different in how dangerous Antimatter actually is. This service may include material from Agence France-Presse (AFP), APTN, Reuters, AAP, CNN and the BBC World Service which is copyright and cannot be reproduced. Another way of weaponising antimatter is to use it to power spaceships which could potentially be used for warfare. Antimatter is just like normal matter, except that some of its properties are opposite that of normal matter. ", "Comet/Jupiter Collision FAQ - Post-Impact", "Triggering of the largest Deccan eruptions by the Chicxulub impact", "Huge Global Tsunami Followed Dinosaur-Killing Asteroid Impact", "Rapid ocean acidification and protracted Earth system recovery followed the end-Cretaceous Chicxulub impact", "That Dinosaur-Killing Asteroid Instantly Acidified Our World's Oceans, Too", "Climatic Effect of Impacts on the Ocean", "Sun: Amount of Energy the Earth Gets from the Sun", "Seismic effects of the Caloris basin impact, Mercury", "The IAU 2009 system of astronomical constants: the report of the IAU working group on numerical standards for Fundamental Astronomy", "Light curves of type IA supernova models with different explosion mechanisms", "Big Bang Energy (Ask an Astrophysicist)", "Storage requirements for security sensitive ammonium nitrate (SSAN)", "Guide for the Use of the International System of Units (SI)", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=TNT_equivalent&oldid=1150973581. Find out more about shock waves in our oblique shock calculator and Prandtl Meyer expansion calculator. He says an alternative hypothesis is that we're living in a part of the Universe filled with matter but other parts might be full of antimatter. The energy output that would be released by a typical, The approximate radiated surface energy released in a magnitude 8, The complete conversion of 1kg of matter into pure energy would yield. This amazing device creates a region of space where the magnetic field gets larger in all directions. And based on what we know about this terrifying-sounding substance, the Universe probably shouldn't exist at all. This result is only bizarre for someone who has a prior commitment to the Big Bang model. Supposed you have successfully build a special tomahawk missile entirely composed of antimatter, this method of conversion of mass to energy greatly dwarfs any conventional nuclear reactions. How are engines numbered on Starship and Super Heavy? The approximate total yield of the super-eruption of the. Thanks for contributing an answer to Physics Stack Exchange! What are the arguments for/against anonymous authorship of the Gospels, Weighted sum of two random variables ranked by first order stochastic dominance. An antimatter weapon is a theoretically possible device using antimatter as a power source, a propellant, or an explosive for a weapon. But so far, this mysterious anti-stuff remains elusive. "Even in that hypothesis you'd still need a gram of antimatter, which would take 10 billion years to accumulate," Professor Doser says. The recipe they use at CERN's Antimatter Factory to achieve this feat is: 1. ", National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration, "How much energy does an earthquake release? The height of the fireball was over seven times the height of Everest. And that means no particles would remain to eventually become people, stars, and galaxies. That should be a pure gamma output initially, but I'm curious as to what would happen to the atmosphere - what will happen to that much energy, will fission happen and how much life will survive? There's no way $10^{32} / 10^{17} = 10^{27}$, much less $10^{32} \times 10^{17} = 10^{27}$, no matter where you place any 1.72 multiplicative factor. You'd think a Galaxy Class Starship would take a chunk out of a nearby planet by comparison. Total solar output in all directions per day. This is becoming more and more obvious as time goes by. And yet, a piece of fruit makes antimatter too. Site design / logo 2023 Stack Exchange Inc; user contributions licensed under CC BY-SA. The opposite to Worldbuilding: World Destruction, Improving the copy in the close modal and post notices - 2023 edition, New blog post from our CEO Prashanth: Community is the future of AI. The ablative engine, which slowly vaporizes itself to produce thrust, could go as high as 5,000 seconds. All of the antiprotons created at Fermilab's Tevatron particle accelerator add up to only 15 nanograms. There is such a thing as an antimatter trap. There are many hypothetical antimatter weapons, the most well known of which is the antimatter bomb. Therefore, just by doubling the distance, you'll be shielding yourself from significant exposure. The bottle is called a trap because thats what it does, it traps antimatter. This is one of the more common types of "TNT equivalence" and is the one used on USGS form 9-4040A. As radioisotopes in bananasdecay, they release pairs of electrons and anti-electrons. Language links are at the top of the page across from the title. [3], As of 2004[update], the cost of producing one millionth of a gram of antimatter was estimated at US $60 billion. You have antimatter containment capsule that only has to hold out for seconds at most when fired. When the antimatter starts reacting antiprotons and positrons will be kicked away, mixing with the air. 1 gram of antimatter costs $62.5 trillion according to NASA. Bananas are made out of potassium-40 which produces positrons as it decays. Unravelling this cosmic conundrum is what the researchers at CERN's Antimatter Factory are trying to do. Answer (1 of 6): Let's assume a gram of antihydrogen, which would release about 2 GeV per annihilation. When a collision between a particle and its opposing antiparticle collide, both of them are annihilated which causes a massive release of energy, otherwise known as an explosion. It uses a magnet to keep antimatter on the inside from interacting with the walls of the trap and exploding. [4] As such, Hui Chen of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory dismissed concerns about antimatter bombs in 2008 as "unrealistic". A minor scale definition: am I missing something? Check your math. 1 gram of antimatter costs $62.5 trillion according to NASA. For a fragmenting munition where public access is possible, the TNT explosion radius, DDD, is: This distance is different for the bare explosives. This form is part of the U.S. implementation of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty and is submitted voluntarily by mines that conduct blasts with over 300 short tons "TNT equivalent" of explosives. Safety, Health & Environmental Affairs Committee, Transportation, Distribution & Security Committee. If antimatter makes contact with any ordinary matter it will explode, this includes air. At least when you think in other literature, something that could fit in your hand could destroy literally an entire country. The antimatter bomb would by far be the most powerful thing humans ever created. But antimatter is incredibly scarce, and scientists still dont know why. This one bullet would be equivalent to 378 grams of TNT, which is more powerful than a modern grenade. Ah yes, the multi-million dollar question. And yet, there is very little antimatter in the universeso its been a known problem for many years. The worlds most powerful nuke ever created was the Tsar Bomba. [1] By way of comparison, the cost of the Manhattan Project (to produce the first atomic bomb) is estimated at US$23 billion in 2007 prices. Instead of wasting 1E28 joules in an antimatter explosion on the surface of Earth, how about a nice 1E20 J bomb set off in a carefully drilled hole inside 10 Hygiea -- wait a few months and let gravity do most of the heavy lifting (or falling in this case) when 10 Hygiea impacts the Earth. Where can I find a clear diagram of the SPECK algorithm? This is one of the more common types of "TNT equivalence" and is the one used on USGS form 9-4040A. For the similarly named weight measurements, see, The explosion from a 14-kiloton nuclear test at the. [9], But, even on this basis, comparing the actual energy yields of a large nuclear device and an explosion of TNT can be slightly inaccurate. This is not the first time Big Bang thinking has led to the conclusion that the universe shouldnt exist. If you have an absurdly large fireball it will tend to spread more upwards (less pressure, longer mean-free path) and send a big plasma cloud up - bad from an electromagnetic pulse, ozone layer and IR energy igniting stuff perspective. This sounds like a good thing at first, but it just means that antimatter weapons could be seen as more politically acceptable, and therefore more likely to be used in warfare.