Antimatter 'held' for 15 minutes

[GT250]

I don't know about you - but if it's true - this is going to be a BIG advance in Antimatter 'future' power.

I understand that labs will and do 'beef' up their results etc to obtain extra funding etc etc.

But todays announcment of 'containing' Antimatter for 15 minutes, has got to be damn good!

However, of course; As from Scientific American:
"Still the efficiency of trapping is somewhat low—for each antiatom confined by the trap, thousands more from the same batch escape. And in 16 trapping experiments of 1,000 seconds each, only seven antihydrogen atoms were detected in total. (The researchers demonstrate the confinement of antihydrogen by quickly shutting down the superconducting magnets, turning the anti-atoms loose, and watching for matter–antimatter annihilations on the walls of the trap.)".


This could lead to the ultimate of all ultimates of the most abundant and powerfull of all 'theorised' energy.

But, where would this expended energy go? Heat, then to what?

You can't destroy energy: Only move it from one state to another....

Que the Twilight zone music...

[trash]

As they say in Star Trek .... you don't want a containment breach. It could get messy.

[porkop]

I want my warp drive!!!!

[jok11n]

Que the Twilight zone music...

queue the explosion

[Godzilla]

Unbelievable, great development, now the worrying part.

If something goes wrong with the containment what are the consequences?

I think Japans nuclear problems may be nothing compared to the sudden release of antimatter.

[GT250]

Godzilla,
Surely by now, you know that Scotty always solves it at the last moment.

[trash]

If something goes wrong with the containment what are the consequences?

I think Japans nuclear problems may be nothing compared to the sudden release of antimatter.

Well first thing is the amount they are holding is very small, and the resultant energy is small.

However, if say we have 1 gram of antimatter and let the containment collapse, the explosion will be about the size of one of the thermonuclear tests at Bikini Atoll.
The explosion is fairly typical of a nuclear explosion, a double flash. First is the gamma ray burst and then the thermal blast. The amount of radioactive fallout is actually minimal from anti-matter weapons since there are no fission products, fissionable material or any material left at all. All the matter and antimatter ends up as energy.

It's a bit like comparing Hiroshima (without fallout) to Fukushima. They'e a bit different.