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Posted by Baloo (Member # 5) on :

Not speculation: http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mantimatter.html

I was going to post this in the OL when I realized it was of greater interest to the technoids among us than the rank-and-file members.

There isn't a whole lot in the article about Star Trek, but at least now you know some of the history behind the Federation's favorite fuel stuff.

--Baloo

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Jesus saves.
Moses invests.
--Bumper Sticker
www.geocities.com/Area51/Shire/8641/

P.S.: It just occurred to me. Is there an antiphoton? Would we call it a Darkon? [Pun intended ]

[This message has been edited by Baloo (edited November 07, 1999).]

Posted by Omega (Member # 91) on :

I was under the impression that a photon was its own antiparticle...

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Meddle not in the affairs of Dragons; for you are crunchy and good with ketchup.

Posted by Baloo (Member # 5) on :

I was wondering the same thing, but I don't think photons anihilate each other when they collide, so I was wondering.

Any physics majors around who can clear this up?

--Baloo

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Jesus saves.
Moses invests.
--Bumper Sticker
www.geocities.com/Area51/Shire/8641/

Posted by TSN (Member # 31) on :

Yes, there is such a thing as an antiphoton.

BTW, apparently the term "penguin decay" stems from a darts game in which the loser had to use the word "penguin" in a research paper...

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Rimmer: "Holly, put a trace on Paranoia."
Holly: "What's a trace?"
Rimmer: "It's space jargon. It means 'find him'."
Holly: "No it doesn't. You just made it up to sound cool."
-Red Dwarf: "Confidence & Paranoia"

[This message has been edited by TSN (edited November 08, 1999).]

Posted by Michael Dracon (Member # 4) on :

So, what is the explosive yield of one proton/anti-proton annihilation? Can it blow up a car, a building, or is it not even capable of denting a cartboard box??

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Posted by Identity Crisis (Member # 67) on :

The total energy available when a proton/anti-proton pair anhilate is given by
T1 + M1 + T2 + M2 where T1 and T2 are the kinetic enrgies of the two particles and M1 and M2 are the mass energies of the two particles.

As the kinetic energies will vary depending on the situation we'll look at M1 + M2 in order to find a MINIMUM energy for the anhilation.

M1 = M2 = m * c^2 where m is the mass of the proton/anti-proton and c is the speed of light.

m = 1.672 x 10^-27 kg
c = 3 x 10^8 m/s^2

So minimum energy is 2 * 1.672 x 10^-27 * 3 x 10-8 * 3x 10-8 = 3.0096 x 10^-10 Joules
Or in other words: bugger all. You need a LOT of protons and anti-protons to generate useful amounts of energy.

Now that answers the question you asked. The rest of this thread seemed to be about photons and anti-photons (no such thing, photons, like all the mediating bosons are their own anti-particle. Trek frequently gets this wrong: anti-gravitons for example.)

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-->Identity Crisis<--

Posted by Bernd (Member # 6) on :

Unfortunately I can't afford my own particle accelerator, and my survival time in Miami wouldn't be that long either. Anyway, a nice article that sums it up pretty well.

Baloo, Omega: There is nothing such as an antiphoton mentioned in the article, so I wonder what's the matter (unavoidable pun) with it.

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"When diplomacy fails, there's only one alternative - violence. Force must be applied without apology. It's the Starfleet way."
A somewhat different Janeway in VOY: "Living Witness"
Ex Astris Scientia

Posted by The First One (Member # 35) on :

*drives by Bernd*