CERN Physicists Trap and Observe Antimatter For a Record-Breaking Quarter Hour

Perfect! For sure something useful will come out of these experiments/observations.

This is an epic achievement. But the title of the story is misleading. I wanted to "Watch" the containment of anti-matter. Lets get some footage up. I want to see anti-matter. But now that I think of it, wouldn't light destroy anti-matter? It is a particle after all... I have little knowledge on such matters... Or is it Anti-matters...

@Turbo Two Tone: Photons are particles in a similar sense to electrons, but they are still not considered matter. So I don't think they would generate an annihilation reaction the same way matter/antimatter combinations do.

It's interesting that we don't even know if gravity affects antimatter as it does matter. Why wouldn't it? I don't know much about antimatter, but I remember hearing in my physics class that "antimatter is indistinguishable from regular matter traveling backwards through time." Everyone in my class was brainfucked, and I still don't understand that enough to know if it was some kind of model or an actual observation. Either way, couldn't we extrapolate from there and determine the effects of gravity on antimatter?

-IMP ;) :)

@Turbo Two Tone Anti-matter will annihilate matter, but photons are particles of energy, not matter, and so won't annihilate :)

@IceMetalPunk That's the currently accepted theory of antimatter, and by extrapolating that we do have a system in which gravity should affect both matter and antimatter exactly the same way, but it's still just a theory, and hasn't been proven. That's the whole point of what they're saying; we THINK that gravity will pull it down, but we should check and see, just in case it does something different :)

Yet another step closer to positronic brains!! YAY!!!

Now if they can just create anti-carbon(or anti of greenhouse gasses) and solve global warming.... (though I could see if its not that simple)

I still think the Pons and Fleischmanns cold fusion was a result of matter-antimatter collisions which would produce heat without radioactivity or with neutrons which is what was finally determined that happened with their experiments (scientists said no radioactive by products mean not cold fusion).

I still suspect they accidentally found a way in their particular experiment to generate heat from the matter anti matter particles that were being 'pulled' to the cathode or anode. But then what do I know haha.

the physicist may say that when matter and anti-matter come in tact with each other that they cancel each other out. But, my theory is they really teleport/warp each other to completely different places. This is just a theory, and there is no evidence to back it up. It would be kool if that were true though.

1. they don't "cancel each other out", GetRevenge32... they convert into pure energy...E=mc2 expressed exactly. mostly in gamma radiation...no "boom"...just a large flash and lethal radiation and MAXIMUM energy conversion.
2. if gravity didn't affect them in the normal way...wouldn't the universe be filled with the shit(?)...since the particles would be either repelled or not affected by all other normal matter? that's an absurd concept - i cant prove it, but i'm pretty damned sure gravity plays an identical role with antimatter particles.
3. Anti-carbon? You realize that all life here & most likely elsewhere in the universe is carbon-based?(due to it's having more facets for interaction than any other atom). Carbon is a wonderful thing...not a bad one.
4. Light would certainly NOT destroy anti-matter...or how could it ever exist in the first place?? the universe is flooded with light.

Dumb Question: what happens if an anti-hydrogen atom collides with a normal NON-hydrogen atom...say, Iron or whatever??? Can they co-exist in contact??

@DrSebby "what happens if an anti-hydrogen atom collides with a normal NON-hydrogen atom...say, Iron or whatever???"

Its not matched on a atomic scale but on next level down

One proton f.cks up an anti proton (Or even lower, quarks ??)
Elektron vs. positron = gamma ray burst

So you cant hold a kilo of Nori (anti Iron) in your hand,
it wont end god for you or the country you are in.

@IceMetalPunk
"It's interesting that we don't even know if gravity affects antimatter as it does matter. Why wouldn't it? I don't know much about antimatter, but I remember hearing in my physics class that "antimatter is indistinguishable from regular matter traveling backwards through time." Everyone in my class was brainfucked, and I still don't understand that enough to know if it was some kind of model or an actual observation. Either way, couldn't we extrapolate from there and determine the effects of gravity on antimatter?"

Antimatter is oppositely charged matter. For example, an antimatter 'electron' is positively charged (called a positron) and an antimatter 'protons' are negatively charged (called an antiproton). As far as being indistinguishable from matter travelling backward in time, that doesn't make sense. Reversing time wouldn't reverse the charge on a particle.

Oh my! I think everyone is missing the point completely! Now we have a better trap to collect ghost. I see coming soon at a theater new you: “Ghost Busters 3,4 and etc ". Oh yea, bring back the Ghost Busters! Woo Hoo!

@bravadomizzou We're all carbon-based lifeforms. You'd kill us all. However, yes, you'd probably solve the carbon issue in global warming, but there would be nothing here to celebrate your success.

10 bucks says Big Brother is already trying to weaponize it ;) Can we say... antimatter bombs? Antimatter cannons? ;)

OK, two of you have acknowledged "Global Warming", and I just have to say that it is the beginning of may and we had a high of 49 degrees here in Texas. not to mention the freak snow storms earlier this year.

A period of warmth is followed by a period of cold, trying to fix the warm period would simply swing us very far into that cold period.

If someone comments an opposing opinion about this article and they are very blunt, would that make them, ' anti-matter of fact? ' I’m just curious.

@ThisNameTaken
Of course they want to weaponise antimatter. It would be orders of magnitude easier than developing any other use for it. Just like fusion has been weaponised for 50 years, but are still working on other uses.

@pennridge
I agree. Why would changing a charge alter how gravity affects it. And the backwards through time thing doesn't make sense. If it worked backwards through time, the effect of an opposite charged particle nearby would be repulsion not attraction, so annihilation wouldn't happen.

has anybody else noticed the direct connection to "Angels and Demons"? just wanted to point that out.

@ Joeyjam and DrSebby

Anti-matter will annihilate matter, but photons are particles of energy, not matter, and so won't annihilate :)

Light would certainly NOT destroy anti-matter...or how could it ever exist in the first place?? the universe is flooded with light.

It's been proven lately that photons can effect matter, so why not antimatter? If light did destroy antimatter, it would be the simplest explaination for it's lack in the universe. If you consider the standard model and origin theory, during the end of inflation around 10 to the negative 34th power seconds, matter and antimatter were annihilated in massive quantities. If photons of could cause antimatter destruction, it would explain the how matter won out as the winner in our universe.

I think. Haha

So to my previous comment, shine some light on those suckers =P

The electromagnetic forces are so many orders of magnitude greater than gravity on these scales that the gravitational effects are negligible. I would think that a significant amount of antimatter held at a significant distance from normal matter would be required to observe any gravitational effects. We are still a long, long way away from that.

My question around the subject would be, "If gravity is an interaction between space/time and mass, and as long as antimatter does not have a property of "antimass" why would it affect space/time any differently"? Antimatter does in fact have normal mass, it has been experimentally verified that a particle and it's antiparticle have the same mass. Besides, E=mc2 would be zero otherwise.

If you want to understand the concept of particles traveling backward in time, it is best illustrated in Feynman diagrams. For the BEST "layman" lectures ever, Google "Richard Feynman Video - The Douglas Robb Memorial Lectures". If you don't get it then, you never will.

Can they deploy an anti-donaldtrump? Just asking.

New to this site...You guys are hilarious! Ghost Busters references and puns galore! Isn't is reasonable that it it's just a question of time that they accidently touch matter to anti-matter or intentionally? I'm telling you, CERN with be the death of us all!

Charles Jordan - This antimatter trap is fantastic. I am a particle physicist and it has always been my guess that antimatter repulsion of matter caused the extremely rapid expansion of matter in the big bang. Our rules of matter and antimatter say that there should be exactly the same amounts of each. We don't see that. A repulsive force would perhaps separate the two types. Perhaps we are accidentally in one cloud and antipeople are in the other. They think that we are antimatter.
Antimatter interacts with light(photons) just through the particle's charge. The charge of matter is just the opposite of the charge of antimatter. The physics of that is clear. But we haven't been able hold antimatter away from matter long enough to see whether gravity is different for the two types until now. That's why this antimatter trap is so exciting. Most theorists don't want a different gravity for antimatter, but reality rules and experimental physicists like me live on measurements.

@hklint I'm now intrigued by the concept of anti-elements!

For example, the nori of which you speak would have a key role in the meah of the sllec doolb der that the illusive namuh species uses to capture the negyxo. All Nobrac based too - think about that for a minute.

I'm off to cool down now.

WARP SPEED! (seriously? no one said this yet? WTH?)

Hurrah! I just hope we can get something good out of this...

heres a crazy idea it may seem stupid probly is but i will say it.Has anybody thought of antiwater -(H2O) or antifire which breaks down antiwood with antioxygen to make *sudden thought* would it make antiLIGHT!? or antiheat!? whould these have revese properties so that fire would be pure black and icecold I WONDER WHAT ANTIWATER WOULD BE LIKE!

Looks like a ZPM. From stargate

bravadomizzou stated 05/03/11 at 9:11 pm

"Now if they can just create anti-carbon(or anti of greenhouse gasses) and solve global warming.... (though I could see if its not that simple)"

I say if they can go there, then why not anti-U238 239 etc...
and clean up this Japan mess?

It would seem to reason if you can create one type of anti atom that you could create any of them? If so then why not create all the ones that are causing problems from Fukashima and turn them loose?

Not a physicist, just curious?

@adez7 consider the amount of protons and electrons in U238 239 ect now just one of these causes a huge flash of light and large gamma radation what will 92 antiprotons and positrons colliding with 92 protons and electrons do well to put it simply just one of these atoms deployed will be worse than the whole meltdown

@adez7
As macmansa said, deploying enough anti-versions of the loose elements would create a gamma ray burst big enough to take out all life forms on earth. Plus, there's the fact that we can't generate anywhere near enough.

@IceMetalPunk
Regarding anti-matter being matter traveling backwards through time: I'm afraid you got something a little mixed up. That's Negative Matter you are thinking of. Negative matter would have a negative Mass, but have the same charges/etc. So, an electron would still be negative. It's purely mathematical ATM, but it does not violate anything in Physics. Because it has a negative mass, any interactions it would have, would occur in reverse. So, it would fall up. If you ignored the measurement of Mass, it would be identical to regular matter going backwards through time. ( IE: Drop an egg, it falls down. A negative egg on the ground would fall up to your hand, being identical to the regular egg falling, played backwards. )

Anti-Matter is just pole reversals: Electrons are positive, spins are reversed, etc. However, the mass itself has a normal positive value. It SHOULD behave identical to regular mass. However, we have not tested it yet. It would not be the first time there was something wrong in physics.

So, yes. There's at least 2 types of matter, with another 2 mathematically possible: Regular Matter, Anti-Matter, Negative Matter, and Anti-Negative Matter.

Anti-Negative Matter would actually truly cancel out regular matter. Because it is an Anti-Matter, it would be able to interact in a way that allows it to cancel out with Matter. Then, because it has a negative mass, it would cause MC2 to equal 0. To create it though, we first need Negative Energy...and a lot of it. However, if we were able to create it, it should be a bit easier to contain due to it reacting to any force in an opposite manner of normal matter. This gives it an innate ability to separate itself from normal matter with any force chosen.

Anti-negative matter doesn't exactly sound like the correct terminology, as it implies is is the reverse of negative matter. Perhaps you meant to say negative anti-matter?

Just curious, though I must admit I've never come across reference to negative matter in my browsing. I'm going to have to look into this now.

@macmansa - They've already perfected anti-oxidants so I don't see the others too far behind! Also, CERN is dangerous in the same sense that a cat farting in Sweden is dangerous to what's left of the atmosphere of Mars. My comment about CERN being the death of us all, retracted.