# Could we construct an anti-matter weapon today, if we could get the antimatter? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 21, 2005, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-we-construct-an-anti-matter-weapon-today-if-we-could-get-the-antimatter/318025 "2005-08-21T22:31:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2005, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-we-construct-an-anti-matter-weapon-today-if-we-could-get-the-antimatter/318025/21 "2005-08-22T15:58:30Z")
> [@Askia](#): > > **astro.** Yeah, how did you come up with the figures for joules of energy, anyway? Not challenging… trying to learn. [Wikipedia Antimatter](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antimatter) > [@](#): > > In antimatter-matter collisions, the entire rest mass of the particles is converted to energy. The energy per unit mass is about 10 orders of magnitude greater than chemical energy, and about 2 orders of magnitude greater than nuclear energy that can be liberated today using chemical reactions or nuclear fission/fusion. The reaction of 1 kg of antimatter with 1 kg of matter would produce 1.8×10 [sup]17[/sup] J of energy (by the equation E=mc²). In contrast, burning a kilogram of gasoline produces 4.2×107 J, and nuclear fusion of a kilogram of hydrogen would produce 2.6×1015 J. Not all of that energy can be utilized by any realistic technology, because as much as 50% of energy produced in reactions between nucleons and antinucleons is carried away by neutrinos, so, for all intents and purposes, it can be considered lost. [2] 13 x 1.8×10 [sup]17[/sup] joules ---
**Author:** ![Speaker\_for\_the\_Dead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c77e96/32.png) [@Speaker\_for\_the\_Dead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Speaker_for_the_Dead)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2005, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-we-construct-an-anti-matter-weapon-today-if-we-could-get-the-antimatter/318025/22 "2005-08-22T17:19:02Z")
When I do the E=mc[sup]2[/sup] calculation, it only works out to 1.8 x 10[sup]11[/sup]: E = 2 x (300 000)(300 000) = 180000000000 J ---
**Author:** ![scr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2005, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-we-construct-an-anti-matter-weapon-today-if-we-could-get-the-antimatter/318025/23 "2005-08-22T18:23:15Z")
> [@Speaker for the Dead](#): > > When I do the E=mc[sup]2[/sup] calculation, it only works out to 1.8 x 10[sup]11[/sup]: > > E = 2 x (300 000)(300 000) = 180000000000 J If you’re working in SI units, speed needs to be in meters/sec. Or to think of it another way, Joule is defined as J=kg m[sup]2[/sup] s[sup]-2[/sup]. So energy liberatedy by 1 kg of antimatter reacting with 1kg of normal matter is (2 kg)\*(3x10[sup]8[/sup] m/s)[sup]2[/sup] = 1.8x10[sup]17[/sup] kg m[sup]2[/sup] s[sup]-2[/sup] = 1.8x10[sup]17[/sup] Joules. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2005, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-we-construct-an-anti-matter-weapon-today-if-we-could-get-the-antimatter/318025/24 "2005-08-22T19:53:24Z")
I have a problem and a solution ( to a different problem ). Problem : To my knowledge, no one has yet created a perfect vacuum; I can’t provide a cite, but I heard it claimed years ago that a gram of antimatter in the best vacuum produceable would emit enough radiation to kill everyone within half a mile. There’s still to many particles in even the best modern vacuums, so researching improved versions would be a priority. > [@scr4](#): > > Even if you solve the problem of containment, there’s the difficult problem of getting enough antimatter to react at once. If you just released antimatter into the air, or brought it to contact with a solid matter, the first milligram of antimatter to react would scatter the rest of it in every which direction. It probably won’t be a very effective explosion, just a lot of heat. Why not use the antimatter as a “booster stage” to a fission bomb, just like with thermonuclear weapons ? I can’t think of a practical faster way to mix matter and antimatter than that. ---
**Author:** ![Finagle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b19c9b/32.png) [@Finagle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Finagle)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2005, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-we-construct-an-anti-matter-weapon-today-if-we-could-get-the-antimatter/318025/25 "2005-08-22T20:37:21Z")
> [@Der Trihs](#): > > I have a problem and a solution ( to a different problem ). > > Problem : To my knowledge, no one has yet created a perfect vacuum; I can’t provide a cite, but I heard it claimed years ago that a gram of antimatter in the best vacuum produceable would emit enough radiation to kill everyone within half a mile. There’s still to many particles in even the best modern vacuums, so researching improved versions would be a priority. > . Well, how about the “freezing to close to absolute zero” approach? That should keep stray atoms from wandering around hitting each other. Although the few that do will raise the temperature enough so that you’d have to keep cooling it. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2005, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-we-construct-an-anti-matter-weapon-today-if-we-could-get-the-antimatter/318025/26 "2005-08-22T21:50:25Z")
> [@Finagle](#): > > Well, how about the “freezing to close to absolute zero” approach? That should keep stray atoms from wandering around hitting each other. Although the few that do will raise the temperature enough so that you’d have to keep cooling it. If you could chill the whole mechanism down to near absolute zero, I’d guess that would keep the problem from getting _worse_, by preventing outgassing from the antimatter and/or containment vessel. I don’t think it would do much about the particles already floating about free. ---
**Author:** ![Speaker\_for\_the\_Dead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c77e96/32.png) [@Speaker\_for\_the\_Dead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Speaker_for_the_Dead)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2005, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-we-construct-an-anti-matter-weapon-today-if-we-could-get-the-antimatter/318025/27 "2005-08-23T13:41:22Z")
> [@Speaker for the Dead](#): > > When I do the E=mc[sup]2[/sup] calculation, it only works out to 1.8 x 10[sup]11[/sup]: > > E = 2 x (300 000)(300 000) = 180000000000 J :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2005, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-we-construct-an-anti-matter-weapon-today-if-we-could-get-the-antimatter/318025/28 "2005-08-24T04:07:45Z")
> [@Der Trihs](#): > > Why not use the antimatter as a “booster stage” to a fission bomb, just like with thermonuclear weapons ? I can’t think of a practical faster way to mix matter and antimatter than that. “Boosted” fission (or fission-fusion-fission) bombs increase their yield via neutron production, which more efficiently utilizes the fission elements. Photon production via antimatter reaction isn’t going to enhance a fission device, though a significant amount of antimatter-matter reactants would be impressive in their own right. Actually, antimatter can be used to seed or initiate fusion reactions without attendant fission triggers. There is interest for this in use for propulsion (microfusion drive) and was considered as an option for a microthermonuclear version of the Orion-type rocket. The advantage of this, though, isn’t bigger and badder reactions, but actually much smaller reactions than can normally be had via fission-triggered fusion or interial confinement. Stranger [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-we-construct-an-anti-matter-weapon-today-if-we-could-get-the-antimatter/318025.md?page=1)