▲ 316 ▼ Scientists trap and tame a single particle of antimatter for months (news.northwestern.edu) submitted 2 weeks ago by chambetHtml@sh.itjust.works to c/science@lemmy.world 77 comments fedilink hide all child comments
[–] HairyHarry@lemmy.world 5 points 2 weeks ago (2 children) ELI5 A zap like a fly in an electrical flytrap or more like a small firecracker? permalink fedilink source parent hideshow 2 child comments replies: [–] Davel23@fedia.io 8 points 2 weeks ago There's a medical test called a PET scan, with PET standing for Positron Emission Tomography. Yes, positron as in antimatter. How it works is the subject is injected with a radioactive substance that decays into antimatter. That antimatter reacts with the normal matter in the subject's body releasing photons. Those photons are then observed by the scanner which builds up a useful picture from them. Now, I'm not sure how much antimatter is generated in the subject's body, but it's a hell of a lot more than a single positron. And it all annihilates within the subject who doesn't notice a thing. So a single positron is not going to generate much of a bang. permalink fedilink source parent [–] alpine_jim@piefed.social 2 points 1 week ago you'd need several dozen, maybe a hundred uranium nuclei doing fission at once to knock over a coarse grain of sand. permalink fedilink source parent
[–] Davel23@fedia.io 8 points 2 weeks ago There's a medical test called a PET scan, with PET standing for Positron Emission Tomography. Yes, positron as in antimatter. How it works is the subject is injected with a radioactive substance that decays into antimatter. That antimatter reacts with the normal matter in the subject's body releasing photons. Those photons are then observed by the scanner which builds up a useful picture from them. Now, I'm not sure how much antimatter is generated in the subject's body, but it's a hell of a lot more than a single positron. And it all annihilates within the subject who doesn't notice a thing. So a single positron is not going to generate much of a bang. permalink fedilink source parent
[–] alpine_jim@piefed.social 2 points 1 week ago you'd need several dozen, maybe a hundred uranium nuclei doing fission at once to knock over a coarse grain of sand. permalink fedilink source parent