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Please drive carefully: scientists plan to transport volatile antimatter for first time (www.theguardian.com)
submitted 7 months ago by to c/science@lemmy.world
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[–] 9 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (6 children)

The paper you linked says "1 microgram is sufficient to trigger one thermonuclear weapon" which corresponds to 6×10^17.
This makes your "few thousand" of by 14 orders of magnitude instead of 15, I bet you feel vindicated now.

For example, a device the size of a hand grenade with tons of TNT equivalent output

A man portable nuke has existed since the 60's so it wouldn't be a game changer.

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  • [–] 2 points 7 months ago*

    You're getting the microgram statement from here. You miss the point. A millionth of a gram is feasible to make and contain right now. It was predicted by 2010 in the paper using CERN, and there are much better facilities producing since then.

    You're missing the point to be pedantic over a 20 year old paper. Newer approaches reduce the antimatter requirements for such weapons even more.

    This might make you wonder why antimatter is being transported around. The fact is, proposals to weaponize antimatter as a fusion trigger have been around for over 40 years, and the means to achieving that from a production and engineering standpoint seem a good bet to be available today.

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  • [–] 1 point 7 months ago (2 children)

    I think even the TSA could tell that's a bomb.

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  • [–] 1 point 7 months ago (1 child)

    Yes, but if you take the train or a private car you won't be searched. To get it across international borders try smuggling among other cargo or by submarine, maybe even diplomatic courier.

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