Antimatter- Is it worth it?

[icore2]

I have done some minor research on antimatter and how it can be both beneficial as well as harmful for us humans. So here's my question -

 

About 5 kilo of antimatter can produce enough energy to power earth for a millennium, but it is also enough to completely obliterate earth. Do you think we should invest money into antimatter research? Why?

Edited July 29, 2014 by icore2

[John Cuthber]

Who cares?

It would be absurd to try to create 5 kilos of it anyway.

[Strange]

 

About 5 kilo of antimatter can produce enough energy to power earth for a millennium

 

Even if that is true, it would take more energy than that to create it.

 

Edit: it isn't true. Annihilating 5kg of matter and 5kg of antimatter would produce about 10^18 J.

 

Which is about the "yearly electricity consumption of South Korea as of 2009"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orders_of_magnitude_%28energy%29

Edited July 29, 2014 by Strange

[timo]

It might be worthwhile noting that common applications involving anti-matter are not in the field of energy supply. Neither is common research into anti-matter, as far as I know.

[ajb]

Do you think we should invest money into antimatter research?

Yes.

 

Why?

For example, we have tha ALPHA experiment based at CERN, is a collaboration to create and study antihydrogen. The aim of the experiments are to compare antihydrogen with hydrogen in order to test some of the fundamental symmetries that we think the Universe insists upon. One thing they are interested in is if antimatter behaves the same under gravity as hydrogen does. The questions here are fundamental science questions and are not focused in energy production.

 

As an aside, Swansea university where I got my undergarduate degree from is heavily involved in ALPHA.

 

Link

ALPHA

[DeathShallWait]

 

Even if that is true, it would take more energy than that to create it.

 

Edit: it isn't true. Annihilating 5kg of matter and 5kg of antimatter would produce about 10^18 J.

 

Which is about the "yearly electricity consumption of South Korea as of 2009"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orders_of_magnitude_%28energy%29

I don't know if that is true because wiki says 1 kg is enough for such an amount of energy.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antimatter#Fuel

And creating 5kg of antimatter is like..You don't even want to calculate the costs involving in.

[swansont]

I don't know if that is true because wiki says 1 kg is enough for such an amount of energy.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antimatter#Fuel

 

 

9×10¹⁶ J/kg is the value from the wikipedia page. You have 10 kg of mass, thus giving you 9×10¹⁷ J of energy. Which is approximately 1×10¹⁸ J, just as Strange said.

[Amity]

It is worthwhile when it doesn't cost a million times more to create the antimatter, money and energy-wise with some exaggeration. Until then, not worth it in my own opinion.