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dreadgeek · 11-18-2010, 11:11 AM

Okay this is a *really* big deal!

Scientists at CERN have created an anti-atom in a lab and held onto it long enough to demonstrate that this most elusive form of matter can be studied.

Now, the reason why this is such a big deal is that anti-matter hasn't existed in this universe in the better part of 15 billion years! Just after the moment of the Big Bang the universe was made of both matter and anti-matter. Anti-matter is just matter with an opposite charge. So the proton has a twin called an anti-proton, the electron has a twin called the anti-electron. The anti-proton has a negative charge and the positron (anti-electron) has a positive charge (because the proton has a positive charge and electrons are negatively charged). So, at the Beginning there were *almost* but not quite equal amounts of matter and anti-matter which annihilated each other. Everything you see, everything that exists in this universe is the matter that was left after this fugue of destruction (and it may have fueled the rapid inflation of the universe, matter/anti-matter annihilation releases a lot of energy).

One practical--if future--use of this would be as a propulsion source for long-distance space travel. In the VERY long term, this could actually make interstellar space travel a reality.

Cheers
Aj

11-18-2010, 11:11 AM	#902
dreadgeek Power Femme How Do You Identify?: Cinnamon spiced, caramel colored, power-femme Preferred Pronoun?: She Relationship Status: Married to a wonderful horse girl Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: Lat: 45.60 Lon: -122.60 Posts: 1,733 My Photo Gallery Thanks: 1,132 Thanked 6,844 Times in 1,493 Posts Rep Power: 21474852	Scientists create anti-matter in a lab! Okay this is a really big deal! Scientists at CERN have created an anti-atom in a lab and held onto it long enough to demonstrate that this most elusive form of matter can be studied. Now, the reason why this is such a big deal is that anti-matter hasn't existed in this universe in the better part of 15 billion years! Just after the moment of the Big Bang the universe was made of both matter and anti-matter. Anti-matter is just matter with an opposite charge. So the proton has a twin called an anti-proton, the electron has a twin called the anti-electron. The anti-proton has a negative charge and the positron (anti-electron) has a positive charge (because the proton has a positive charge and electrons are negatively charged). So, at the Beginning there were almost but not quite equal amounts of matter and anti-matter which annihilated each other. Everything you see, everything that exists in this universe is the matter that was left after this fugue of destruction (and it may have fueled the rapid inflation of the universe, matter/anti-matter annihilation releases a lot of energy). One practical--if future--use of this would be as a propulsion source for long-distance space travel. In the VERY long term, this could actually make interstellar space travel a reality. Cheers Aj __________________ Proud member of the reality-based community. "People on the side of The People always ended up disappointed, in any case. They found that The People tended not to be grateful or appreciative or forward-thinking or obedient. The People tended to be small-minded and conservative and not very clever and were even distrustful of cleverness. And so, the children of the revolution were faced with the age-old problem: it wasn’t that you had the wrong kind of government, which was obvious, but that you had the wrong kind of people. As soon as you saw people as things to be measured, they didn’t measure up." (Terry Pratchett) Last edited by dreadgeek; 11-18-2010 at 11:24 AM.