US scientists get glimpse of antihelium

US scientists get glimpse of antihelium

Scientists in the US produced a clutch of antihelium particles, the antimatter equivalents of the helium nucleus, after smashing gold ions together nearly 1bn times at close to the speed of light.

The discovery of antihelium at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider at Brookhaven national laboratory in New York will aid the search for exotic phenomena in the distant universe, including antimatter versions of stars and even galaxies.

Antimatter looks and behaves like normal matter but has one crucial difference: particles of antimatter have an equal and opposite charge to those that make up the world around us. When antimatter meets matter, the two annihilate one another, leaving nothing but a burst of energy.

Ok so we are a tiny step closer to potentially solving the riddle of the Big Bang. If such an event actually really did occur. We are still a good deal away from Matter-Antimatter propulsion drives as in Star Trek.

But still a bit closer.

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Physicists observe antihelium-4 nucleus, the heaviest antinucleus yet

-- In 1932, scientists observed the first antimatter particle, a positron (or antielectron). Since then, scientists have observed heavier and heavier states of antimatter: antiprotons and antineutrons in 1955, followed by antideuterons, antitritons, and antihelium-3 during the next two decades.

Advances in accelerator and detector technology led to the first production of antihydrogen in 1995 and antihypertriton (strange antimatter) in 2010. Now, scientists with the STAR collaboration at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) at Brookhaven National Laboratory have observed another state of antimatter for the first time: the antimatter helium-4 nucleus, which is the heaviest antinucleus observed so far.

reply to post by SLAYER69


Damn you SLAYER, you make me want to learn new stuff all of the time.
Anti matter and matter....... wow... that blows my mind,
I cant wait to see what the possibilities that this discovery will produce,Or, hypothetically will or will not produce

Thanks again SLAYER.
Meathed

Frist all this is way over my head...
but...
forget Matter-Antimatter propulsion... think of how we could have cheap safe energy if they could make some kind of reactor... that didnt go BOOM ...

reply to post by DaddyBare


I dunno. I think that's the nature of Matter-Antimatter when those two come together it goes BOOM!

Yeah but you have a massive release of energy in that Boom, right???
Seems to me instead of using pounds of the stuff you could use just a smidgen, a pinch
and have a controlled BOOM you could use to turn a generator...

But what do I know????

reply to post by DaddyBare


I think the next 40 years or so we will see a massive advancement in technology, one that will make the last IT jump look like a small pimple. We have Genetic engineering, NANO-technology and now this.

reply to post by SLAYER69


Dont get me wrong here... Idea of Nano-tech...
just this morning I was reading how Nanotechnology-based Sunscreens Help Prevent Skin Cancers
but doctors had fears that the particles were so small that they might get into the skin rather than lay on top of...

guess we still have a few bugs to work out

reply to post by DaddyBare


NANO-
Technology is the wave of the future IMO.



Pumps, Valves, Gears and Motors built from the atom up etc..

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For those of us who are less familiar with the potential here is a great starting point site.

Antimatter: Mirror of the Universe
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They state that antihelium is the heaviest anti matter particle they have observed so far.
Does that mean it is heavier than the very light standard helium particle and does that mean that an anti uranium or plutonium particle will therefore be light while the non anti versions are heavy particles or am i barking up the wrong tree here?

reply to post by lewman




I see what it is that your saying,

matter as we know it from Hydrogen ( the lightest ) to something as heavy as uranium/ plutonium would be reversed in anti matter state, so that Hydrogen would then be heavy state anti matter and Uranium/ Plutonium the light state anti matter,



Icanseeatoms.

Bombarding Gold ions?
There seems to be a hell lot of going-ons with gold ain't it.
One of the myths of humans is how we were placed on this planet only to mine gold...

perhaps there is so much more than we know about gold and other elements.
this could be the starting point which could lead us to the truth of creation.

reply to post by SLAYER69




Thanks for the link,

Again im seeing work about mirrors, what is it about mirror state, why oh why would an atom being of 99.9% ( empty space ) want to be reflective or mirror state.


Icanseeatoms.

reply to post by letmeDANz




I like that,, " the truth of creation" and your signiture is " reality is a myth"


Icanseeatoms.

reply to post by SLAYER69


science.. just not my best subject.

No doubt I will have to read up more on this subject.

As for nanotech, what are your views on the risks?

Ready or not, here it comes. In the next 20 years, nanotechnology will touch the life of nearly every person on the planet. The potential benefits are mind boggling and brain enhancing. But like many of the great advancements in earth's history, it is not without risk Here are some of the risks posed to society by nanotechnology.

www.futureforall.org...

reply to post by jam321




corpuscle sized pumps and artery repair robots etc.

How do we know that some other isolated galaxies are not made of antimater if it all looks the same but has issues when brought together? Could far away yet visible galaxies be antimater galaxies?

I hate to play the role of the pessimist, but it would not surprise me in the least if in 40 years the government is in possession of anti-matter bombs, while the entire country is still powered by fossil fuels.

I'm sure I am not the only person who wonders about all the great advances that have been made in science and medicine, that the majority hasn't even heard about, much less benefited from.

reply to post by lewman


Mass wise, antiparticles have the same mass as their counterparts.

We have already made an anti-atom of Hydrogen because Hydrogen is the lightest (and therefore simplest, structurally) atom.

In this instance they have now created an anti-particle for Helium-4, which is a slightly heavier atom.

Originally posted by SLAYER69
US scientists get glimpse of antihelium

Antimatter looks and behaves like normal matter but has one crucial difference: particles of antimatter have an equal and opposite charge to those that make up the world around us. When antimatter meets matter, the two annihilate one another, leaving nothing but a burst of energy.

How do they know it looks and behaves the same as normal matter? Common sense would tell anyone that it doesn't look or behave the same. And why would they try to look at it or understand it if it's just the same?

Anti-Elements & Compounds should have properties unique to themselves imo.