| Author |
Message |
username
Title: owner of a lonely heart
Joined: Jul 06 2007
Location: phoenix, az usa
Posts: 16135
|
| Quote: |
Scientists at CERN have announced that they've been able to trap 309 atoms of antihydrogen for over 15 minutes. This is long enough that soon, they'll be able to figure out whether antimatter obeys the law of gravity, or whether it's repelled by normal matter and falls "up" instead. It would be antigravity, for real.
While it's never been tested experimentally due to how difficult it is to create and store the stuff, it's disappointingly likely that antimatter will fall "down" just like regular matter. The thinking behind this is that antimatter (despite the "anti-") is made of regular ordinary energy, and even if it's got an opposite charge, it should still obey the same general rules as matter does. Antimatter falling up would mean a violation of the law of conservation of energy, among other things.
That said, if antimatter were to exhibit antigravity, it would go a long way towards explaining some of the peculiarities of our universe. For example, the universe is supposed to have just as much antimatter as it does matter, but we don't know where the antimatter is. If antimatter and normal matter repelled each other, it could mean that there are entire antimatter galaxies out there. Also, that repulsion would explain why the universe is not just expanding, but speeding up its expansion, something that's tricky to figure out when everything in the universe is always attracted towards everything else.
In either case, the team at CERN should be able to put the debate to rest within a couple months, when they plan to trap a blob of antihydrogen and then just watch it to see which way it falls. Down, and the laws of physics stay in place. Up, and you might just get that hoverboard you've always wanted. |
http://dvice.com/archives/2011/05/does-antimatter.php via current.com
wow. im at a loss for words as to how fucking awesome this is. and how mind boggling it is at the same time.
|
| Klimbatize wrote: |
| I'll eat a turkey sandwich while blowing my load |
|
|
     |
|
|
Syd Lexia
Site Admin
Title: Pop Culture Junkie
Joined: Jul 30 2005
Location: Wakefield, MA
Posts: 24887
|
Can't scientists do something useful? Like cure AIDS and cancer? Cuz I have both.
|
|
|
  |
|
|
Adrock4
Title: Mostly Lurks, Now
Joined: Sep 13 2009
Location: Pennsylvania
Posts: 427
|
But who would look after the chemo and cocktail drug companies once their trade becomes pointless?
Those poor, poor drug companies.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Doddsino
Joined: Oct 01 2009
Posts: 5316
|
First they're wanting to tear a hole in the universe and now they want to undo gravity.
These scientists won't rest until they fuck everything up.
|
|
|
|
|
|
GPFontaine
Joined: Dec 06 2007
Location: Connecticut
Posts: 11244
|
So...
Rub some on shoes... I fly?
Rub some on bottom of boobs... perky without a bra?
Uses for anti-gravity stuff would be fun to come up with!
|
|
|
|
|
|
Adrock4
Title: Mostly Lurks, Now
Joined: Sep 13 2009
Location: Pennsylvania
Posts: 427
|
Step 1: Attach yourself to anti-gravity matter in Times Square
Step 2: Float upward long enough so that you're insanely high and everyone forgot they saw a man floating upward in Times Square.
Step 3: Detach anti-gravity matter from yourself, plummet to your incredibly high-impact death in a densely populated Times Square.
Suicide just got a lot more fun.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Black Zarak
Title: Big Coffin Hunter
Joined: Feb 01 2006
Location: Phyrexia
Posts: 4098
|
Anti-matter galaxies? It's Crisis on Infinite Earths!
|
REVIEWS, LEGOS, NONSENSE Check out Zarak's Barracks!
"Let that be a lesson to you, your family and everyone you've ever known..."
"Thanks to denial, I'm immortal!" |
|
|
|
|
Blackout
Title: Captain Oblivious
Joined: Sep 01 2007
Location: That Rainy State
Posts: 10376
|
| GPFontaine wrote: |
So...
Rub some on shoes... I fly?
Rub some on bottom of boobs... perky without a bra?
Uses for anti-gravity stuff would be fun to come up with! |
SPREAD IT ON THE UNDERSIDE OF A SKATEBOARD!
|
|
|
|
|
|
GPFontaine
Joined: Dec 06 2007
Location: Connecticut
Posts: 11244
|
| Blackout wrote: |
| GPFontaine wrote: |
So...
Rub some on shoes... I fly?
Rub some on bottom of boobs... perky without a bra?
Uses for anti-gravity stuff would be fun to come up with! |
SPREAD IT ON THE UNDERSIDE OF A SKATEBOARD! |
Not until 2015!
|
|
|
|
|
|
Milhouse
Joined: Dec 19 2008
Location: Charlottesville, VA
Posts: 485
|
I'm already anti-gravity. Fuck you, gravity.
|
|
|
|
|
|
bassguy252
Title: Professional Malcontent
Joined: May 26 2010
Location: Mount Dhoom!!!!!!!
Posts: 517
|
whats next? a delorian that can time travel??
|
Let's assume it's a mixture of the two!
 |
|
|
|
|
lavalarva
2011 SNES Champ
Joined: Dec 04 2006
Posts: 1929
|
1 drop of antimatter + 1 drop of matter = Light + a shitton of energy
So as long as your hoverboard doesn't touch any matter, like the road, or water, or air, it won't become a nuclear bomb and you'd be okay.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Drew Linky
Wizard
Joined: Jun 12 2009
Posts: 4209
|
| GPFontaine wrote: |
So...
Rub some on shoes... I fly?
Rub some on bottom of boobs... perky without a bra?
Uses for anti-gravity stuff would be fun to come up with! |
Rub some on shoes, feet explode
Rub some on bottom of boobs, boobs explode
Uses for anti-gravity can be really explosive! So of course I think it'd be fun.
And that having been said, I want Quidditch now.
|
https://discord.gg/homestuck is where you can find me literally 99% of the time. Stop on by if you feel like it, we're a nice crowd. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
