Questions tagged [antimatter]
For questions about the material composed of antiparticles (which have the opposite charge from the equivalent particles of regular matter), its uses and role in the universe, and its interaction with regular matter.
59
questions
12
votes
1answer
532 views
Does the sun provide enough energy to accelerate a large ship to a decent proportion of the speed of light?
This came up when running some numbers on the hard science possibilities of interstellar colonization and I mostly want to know whether I made some major errors and am off by a few orders of magnitude ...
1
vote
1answer
88 views
energy sources for intergalactic travel in fictitious universe with similar laws of known physics but different evolution
This question differs slightly from the many excellent threads on topics similar to this one. In the fictional universe I am contemplating, the same laws of physics apply as in ours, but because of a ...
3
votes
2answers
103 views
Photosynthetic life using gamma radiation
Okay, so I have a planet that gets from its star a solar flux of 1360 W/m^2. The catch? As the star is powered by matter-antimatter reactions, it's predominantly, if not entirely, gamma rays. There is ...
4
votes
3answers
329 views
Is it useful to use a reverse thrust system on a huge interstellar spaceship (1.7km) to slow down in space?
I’m working on a personal 3d animation project: A big, BIG interstellar spaceship (about 1.7 km long), propelled by two antimatter engines (Like the Venture Star, in the introduction of Avatar).
https:...
4
votes
4answers
207 views
Converting Matter To Antimatter And Vice Versa
Okay, I would like to know if there is a safe way of converting matter into antimatter, in the theoretical case of say, an manned expedition to a planet made of antimatter. How would I be able to turn ...
1
vote
4answers
451 views
Hosting Life Near an Anti-Star
An anti-star is a star that produces energy via antimatter annihilation. As annihilation is 100% efficient at turning matter into energy, an anti-star the mass of the Sun produces 100 times as much ...
5
votes
2answers
150 views
Harvesting Antimatter from Solar Flares
An old NASA news article I came across states that a solar flare observed in 2002 produced around a half-kilo of antimatter:
https://www.nasa.gov/vision/universe/solarsystem/rhessi_antimatter.html
How ...
4
votes
9answers
2k views
How to annihilate an object completely? [closed]
I would like to annihilate an object (approx size of a table), in that I want to make it not exist in any recognizable form. (gamma radiation, etc. would be fine). My knowledge of physics would fit on ...
-4
votes
2answers
80 views
How far would an antimatter asteroid made inside our solar system? [closed]
Imagine right now an antimatter asteroid the size of Hawaii of extraterrestrial origin enters our solar system and is on a collision course with one of the inner planet, Mercury at a fantastic speed ...
2
votes
4answers
632 views
The use of antimatter being a solution to the Fermi Paradox [closed]
While there are many proposed solutions to the Fermi Paradox, one option in particular stood out to me as a likely candidate: antimatter.
It's no secret that antimatter is one of the most dangerous ...
2
votes
1answer
148 views
How could an antimatter battery take the shaking and knocks from being in an active android? [closed]
There are quite a few questions on here related to using antimatter-matter annihilations as an energy source or weapon and it seems one big issue is the safety issue of it not all going off if damaged....
8
votes
6answers
490 views
Cons of Antimatter Weaponry
In the story I'm creating, a major weapon type of humanity will be Antimatter based weaponry. This is a fairly new technology, as antimatter production facilities have just reached the size and ...
5
votes
1answer
167 views
Antimatter filled buckyballs - The energy storage medium of the future
Antimatter gets used a lot in SciFi due to it's mind-bending energy density. If you can store it in a form that requires no power and is at least mildly idiot-proof then you've just solved half of ...
7
votes
3answers
463 views
How long and where could an antimatter object survive in space?
Are there any areas of space where an antimatter object, the size of a small house could survive without coming into contact with any or extremely minimal amounts of matter?
I had assumed in all ...
13
votes
9answers
5k views
How fast does an antimatter bullet need to move to pierce rather than explode?
The environment is set in (ideal) space with no air for the bullet to interact with. It should encounter nothing until it reaches its target.
The bullet is assumed to be a perfect sphere with a ...
9
votes
10answers
481 views
Would there be any place for nuclear-powered spaceships in a world where antimatter propulsion is the standard?
Nuclear fission rockets are becoming obsolete and have been superseded by the more efficient antimatter engines, which have nearly 100% efficiency and do not produce pollutants.
I'm wondering this: in ...
25
votes
9answers
7k views
Would an antimatter bullet fired from a sniper rifle even reach its target?
Let's say our villain fires an antimatter rifle from behind a magnetic field over a km from the target. The bullet is traveling over 1000 meters per second. If it reaches its target, the 13 gram ...
2
votes
1answer
256 views
How much antimatter can we theoretically hold in a Minimum Magnetic Field Trap?
I will be using solar antimatter production via Schwinger pair production like the VARIES project but I need to store it for bulk use. The containment will be a satellite orbiting the sun close enough ...
20
votes
5answers
5k views
What would a life-form be like if it's antimatter-based
I've been thinking of the idea of creating and adding an alien species that's antimatter-based (being from a universe where antimatter became the majority instead of "normal matter").
However, I'm ...
6
votes
3answers
178 views
Could anti-matter virtual particles be theoretically harvested from the quantum flux?
I was wondering if a vacuum created within a particular material in the shape of sphere could be used to harvest anti-matter from virtual particles? Within the vacuum, theoretically, virtual ...
15
votes
9answers
3k views
Methods and Feasibility of Antimatter Mining?
Say 200-300 years in the future, humankind has colonized much of the solar system, using a combination of laser thermal drives and solid-core nuclear rockets (fusion never really panned out). ...
3
votes
3answers
359 views
Is antimatter boosted nuclear weapon theoretically possible?
Are there any fundamental obstacles to using a nuclear explosion as a trigger for antimatter generation and thus considerably increasing the yield?
6
votes
0answers
285 views
The great battery swap [closed]
An alien contra-organization wants to spur the development of Earth to help humans in the near-future in presence of a prime-directive like law. They cannot establish actual contact, so they do the ...
5
votes
3answers
172 views
Antimatter internal combustion engine
I have an idea for an extremely crackpot engine design for a future society I may incorporate into my story.
What would happen is individual antihydrogen molecules injected into the center of carbon ...
6
votes
1answer
271 views
Feasibility of an Antimatter-Catalysed Ram Augmented Interstellar Rocket (AC-RAIR)
A fictional starship that I am designing functions via a form of Bussard ramjet that uses hydrogen from the interstellar medium as reaction mass, not as fuel.
In order to accelerate the propellant, ...
3
votes
4answers
229 views
How can I destroy a planet with antimatter?
So I found the base of these pesky rebels on this planet and I am tasked with destroying the planet to eliminate the rebels once and for all. Unfortunately, my death star has malfunctioned and has ...
27
votes
6answers
8k views
Would one atom of antimatter be lethal if annihilated inside the brain?
I am dealing with a dystopian story that tries to come up with some kind of total surveillence or control from higher authorities.
The authorities threaten to kill those who disobey them by simply ...
18
votes
2answers
4k views
How would an antimatter reactor actually work?
In the far future, antimatter is used for energy storage: Huge space stations with powerful solar arrays orbit the sun a bit inside Mercury's orbit, using the energy to create small amounts of anti-...
29
votes
30answers
7k views
If antimatter were common starship fuel, what could prevent it from being commonly weaponized? [duplicate]
My scenario involves a high sci-fi setting, where starships are readily available to civilians with sufficient qualifications and money. Most civilians would not be fueling ships with antimatter ...
-2
votes
1answer
149 views
Reason to stay on a doomed spaceship [closed]
For plot reasons, the captain must stay on the ship while his crew (including his wife) get in escape pods and leave. Unfortunately we haven't found a satisfying reason for this yet.
What engine or ...
2
votes
3answers
1k views
How much energy would be released in a collision of planets of matter & antimatter?
Let's assume that the Earth has a body of equivalent mass directed at it that is made up purely of antimatter. This antimatter is held back in a containment bubble I created that moves it towards the ...
2
votes
4answers
713 views
How to produce enough power to create a pair of proton-antiproton?
I've recently discovered something great: the Schwinger effect. It says that if you concentrate enough power thanks to laser into a single point in space, it will spawn a pair of proton and antiproton....
-4
votes
1answer
222 views
How could we produce electricity thanks to antimatter?
Imagine we had an easy way to produce antimatter, we could use it for interstellar travel, deadly weapons or more; but I've thought: How could we use it to produce electricity?
As Antimatter ...
8
votes
1answer
133 views
What conditions could create a planet that has higher amounts of antimatter in its radiation belt?
In the science fiction setting I'm working on, one of the factions are supposed to be using naturally occurring antimatter because the systems they reside in have sufficient natural sources of it.
I'...
3
votes
1answer
119 views
Manipulating decaying positron-emitting isotopes for positron “mining”
In a previous question, it was established that antimatter could be "mined" through positron-emitting isotopes.
By gathering positrons from decaying positron-emitting isotopes (potassium-40 and ...
2
votes
3answers
243 views
Energy gain/loss of using synthesized antimatter as a fuel?
Setting aside concerns of containment for now; how much energy would it take to create antimatter? And how much of it would we get back using it as a fuel in a matter-antimatter reactor?
What I'm ...
4
votes
6answers
767 views
Is it realistic to have a moon made of antimatter?
I have an idea for a Sci-Fi story that involves a planet with a third moon made entirely of antimatter, before I delve further into this concept, I would appreciate input on
how to make this ...
24
votes
7answers
5k views
Orbital Bombardment with Anti Matter
I am trying to figure out the feasibility of using Anti Matter to bombard the surface of a planet from a position in space.
My gut feeling is that its not very feasible. Wouldnt the Anti Matter ...
6
votes
4answers
412 views
An anti matter planet behaving like a star
In your space journey your ship systems have spotted an unusual source of gamma rays: it's the size and the mass of a planet and it has a pulsating behaviour.
Further observations shows that you are ...
asked Jan 18 '17 at 6:21
8
votes
2answers
1k views
How do you communicate with antimatter beings?
So aliens have arrived in the solar system.
They have faster-than-light travel technology and the ability to handwave away the supposed causality violations that such an invention causes
They're ...
-1
votes
3answers
316 views
Safely shooting antimatter
Lets say I have this nice gun which can shoot a certain amount of antimatter. After hearing answers about why that won't work, I added a magical coating to the projectile making sure the antimatter ...
9
votes
6answers
929 views
Could antimatter be used as the propellant in a gun?
And not some big space gun a mile wide, I'm talking more like "could you pack a nanogram of antihydrogen into a shotgun shell or rifle casing and fire a bullet with it?"
A few conditions and ...
26
votes
18answers
8k views
Can spacecraft defend against antimatter weapons? How?
Here is what we know:
We have the means to create stable antimatter
We can direct it in a beam
It can travel nearly as fast as light with ease
Antimatter and matter combine in dangerous ways: one ...
6
votes
2answers
2k views
How small can you make an antimatter generator?
Reasonably speaking, I mean. I know that, theoretically at least, there probably isn't any reason you couldn't build a crude generator the size of a bacterium, but if we extrapolate from today's ...
-2
votes
1answer
204 views
Accelerating a massive spaceship
How much wattage would you need to accelerate a four petaton spaceship by 1g for a year? This should be about enough to reach near light speed, which is perfect for interstellar cruising, but I'm ...
7
votes
4answers
1k views
How to make antimatter batteries safe
Assuming the wars of the far, far future aren't either fought exclusively by unmanned spacecraft/robots/drones or in ways so incomprehensible to us that comparisons are meaningless, the only foolproof ...
8
votes
4answers
2k views
Anti-matter containment
I've been looking into anti-matter and a relatively realistic way to contain it through gravity in my story. I'm probably incorrect in the theoretical physics of the idea but, I'm imagining that the ...
6
votes
4answers
546 views
How can I make an anti-matter “rod” warhead for interplanetary delivery?
In the story I'm writing, a civil war is fought between Earth and Mars. Although there is a huge orbital and ground war campaign, conditions deteriorate to the point where Earth decides to unleash the ...
0
votes
3answers
281 views
Could We Restart Mars's Core With Antimatter?
Forget about how we get it there, some kind of top secret experiment on mars gone wrong in all the right ways.
If somehow Mars's core was mixed with some amount of antimatter, and assuming 100% of it ...
3
votes
2answers
500 views
If Earth was converted into energy by antimatter-matter collision would the energy “destroy” the observable universe?
If half the earth was made antimatter and contacted the other half all at once, would the resulting energy be enough to "destroy" the observable universe?
I did some math based on the mass of the ...
