Jump to content

Recommended Posts

Posted (edited)

https://www.sciencealert.com/lightning-inside-ferocious-hurricane-blasted-beam-antimatter-earth-gamma-ray-flash-positrons/amp

 

Hard core. They report having recorded gamma ray flashes with up to 20 MeV, which could have only been Matter-Antimatter annihilations. Since Positrons and Electron annihilate with 511 keV each, this is entirely possible. They're still unsure how exactly the positrons were created in the storm. My best guess would be that a few virtual electron-positron pairs were separated and the positrons were accelerated too fast toward the earth to interact with electrons in their vicinity. Well, just because it's my best guess doesn't mean it's a good one. I would love to read some input on my idea, and also some alternative ideas

 

Edit: Scratch the virtual pair idea. I just thought of beta+ radiation, and according to https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isotopes_of_oxygen, 15O has a half life of 122.24s and is produced naturally when 'regular' high-energy lighning flashes knock a neutron out of the 16O nucleus

Edited by YaDinghus
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.