Why This Stuff Costs $2700 Trillion Per Gram - Antimatter at CERN
13,197,187
Published 2019-11-14
There’s a factory in Europe that makes antimatter! It’s the rarest, most expensive, and potentially the most dangerous material on earth. Scientists don’t know why this material is so rare. Anti-atoms took 72 years after we discovered antimatter to make. Why?
Thanks to CERN, Elise Wursten, Loïc Bommersbach and Sarah Charley
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Creator/Host: Dianna Cowern
Editor: Levi Butner
Research & Writing: Sophia Chen & Dianna & Imogen Ashford
Sources:
Current estimate of Antimatter, courtesy of Elise:
Stefan Ulmer made a back-of-the-envelope calculation based on energy and power consumption. The explanation goes as follows:
1. CERN produces 3e7 antiprotons per AD cycle or about 1e15 per year
2. This is about 1e15*1.67e-27kg = 1.67 nanogram per year
3. 1 gram of antiprotons has an energy (E=mc^2) of 9e13 Joule
4. The efficiency of the antiproton production process is 1e-9, so you need a billion times more energy: 9e22 Joule
5. The cost of power for CERN is 1kWh = 3.6e6 Joule = 0.1 euro
6. So that would make 0.1/3.6e6*9e22 = 2.5e15 euro
7. And it would take CERN 6e8 years
ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/1999… (1999)
nuclearsecrecy.com/nukemap/ - you can see the nuke city
Mass of Fish: "Contribution of Fish to the Marine Inorganic Carbon Cycle" rsmas.miami.edu/groups/grosell/PDFs/2009%20Wilson%…
web.archive.org/web/20120105085146/http://public.w…
Dirac’s attitude about the positive solution to his equation www.newscientist.com/article/dn17111-how-dirac-pre…
Dave’s Essay: multimidia.ufrgs.br/conteudo/frontdaciencia/dirac%…
Questions at CERN
public-archive.web.cern.ch/en/LHC/WhyLHC-en.html
Creating Antihidrogen:
home.cern/science/physics/antimatter/storing-antih…
public-archive.web.cern.ch/en/LHC/WhyLHC-en.html
All Comments (21)
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Meanwhile in the antimatter universe, someone is trying to find matter
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What physics girl says: "the most expensive material" What I think: printer ink
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Keep reminding of us how special Dianna is. I hope everyone rallies around her at the least with good wishes.
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I haven't been to CERN, but I got to watch calibration at RHIC. Watching them fire up a particle beam and focus it was truly amazing. Not many people ever get to see an accelerator in action.
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My antimatter dealer only charges me 20 dollars a gram.
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Pretty expensive for something that doesn't matter...
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Make sure this doesn't fall in wrong hands! #matter of concern
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Got accepted for an internship at CERN, working on the LheC/LHC Interaction Region!!! So excitedd
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So you’re telling me humans started somewhere in the woods and got to this
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Rick: Best I can do is $200. You gotta remember, it's going to sit in my shop for a long time
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I love how star trek is kind of based in a small amount of reality, like using anti-matter reactions in the warp core.
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Could you think of any way to test the hypothesis that the dark matter and dark energy that makes up most of the matter in the cosmos is actually the sub atomic ash of the matter/anti-matter collisions in the early universe? I’ve never heard that idea suggested. Have you?
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If a grad student did their thesis about antimatter, would it be an antithesis?
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“The amount of antimatter you’d need to blow up the moon is equivalent to all the mass of the fish in the sea” Hey Ferb, I know what we’re gonna do today
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Get well soon Dianna and stay strong.
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I love Diannas enthusiasm and sense of wonder and that sparkle in her eyes… Sending love and hoping every day she regains as much strength and energy as possible ❤️✊❤️✊❤️
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The first gram is free that's how they get you hooked!
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Ah yes, now I get it. Comparing the moon to the mass of fish is what I needed
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Idk if I told you this yet, but exotic matter would be like muonic helium with maybe beryllium or boron. That can create strange matter and time crystals, but those time crystals are just exotic matter too. It’s like a metallic fire with moving white bands that should look like it’s absorbing particles inverse to uranium
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Dianna please heal and come back we need you inspiring the minds of all ages and people around the world thank you for everything you have done i'm crying as i write this thank you for helping me out of some of my deepest depressions.
