Tuesday, August 15, 2006

Did you know that?

If you were to combine 1 kg of antimatter with 1 kg of matter, the resulting explosion would release 1.8x1017 joules.
(E=mc2
E=2kg * (300,000,000 m/sec)2
E=2 * 9 x 1016 kg*m2/sec2
E=1.8 x 1017 joules)

This is approximately equivalent to a 43 megaton bomb.
(1 megaton = 4.184 x 1015 joules)

For comparison, the Hiroshima bomb was in the range of 10-15 kilotons. The largest bomb ever detonated, the Tsara bomb, built by the Soviet Union, weighed in at an impressive 50 megatons. The Barringer Meteor Crater in Arizona was caused by a meteor that hit with an approximate force of 2.5 megatons.

This 1kg bomb would produce a fireball approximately 4 km in diameter. The blast would level an urban area within 6.5 km and moderately damage buildings as far as 50 km, and the thermal radiation would cause 3rd degree burns to people within 40 km and 1st degree burns to people within 55 km.

So... who wants to help me build an antimatter production and storage facility?

Yes, I was bored today. Can you tell?

Now you know.

1 comment:

  1. And knowing is half the battle! I guess building antimatter bombs must be the other half.

    ReplyDelete