Thunderstorms on Earth Hurl Antimatter Into Space

[kkozoriz1]

http://www.space.com/10602-antimatter-beams-thunderstorms-nasa.html

Powerful thunderstorms on Earth can fling beams of antimatter into space, a new study finds.Scientists picked up on the never-before-seen phenomenon by peering at thunderstorms with NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope. The antimatter particles were likely created by what scientists call a terrestrial gamma-ray flash (TGF), a brief burst of gamma rays produced inside thunderstorms and known to be associated with lightning, researchers said.

 

[SchwEnt]

so where's the annihilation?

 

[Amaris]

so where's the annihilation?

Right here in the article:

Fermi is designed to monitor gamma rays, the highest-energy form of light. When a piece of antimatter strikes the observatory and collides with "normal" matter, both particles immediately annihilate and are transformed into gamma rays — which Fermi can detect.
In the new study, Fermi's Gamma-ray Burst Monitor (GBM) instrument picked up gamma rays with energies of 511,000 electron volts, researchers said — a telltale sign that an electron has met its antimatter counterpart, a positron. [What Is Antimatter?]
The gamma-ray detector spotted the antimatter signals while searching for at terrestrial flashes of gamma rays. To date, scientists have identified 130 gamma-ray flashes from Earth since Fermi's launch in 2008, and four of them clearly show antimatter signatures, researchers said.

This is fantastic!

 

[RoJoHen]

So all we need for interstellar space travel is to have FTL engines powered by thunderstorms!

 

[Trekker4747]

Gamma rays, huh?

Welp, time to go get my super-powers!

 

[CuttingEdge100]

It's basically pair production: Radiation as well as electrical current is released during the lightning burst; some of the gamma-rays intersect at skew-lines to themselves or electrons yielding a positron and electron. The two are attracted back to each other and annihilate in a flash of gamma-rays.

 

[SchwEnt]

So matter-antimatter annihilation is going on, in the thunderstorms above our heads.

And we barely even notice it without GR detectors and other advanced scientific sensors. Hmm.

Weren't we led to believe that antimatter coming into contact with matter results in catastrophic consequences? I mean, where's the 'splosions?

It seems the annihilation is evident in gamma-ray flashes or bursts, and even these require instruments to detect. Is it only because this is happening with particle-sized stuff? We'd need grams of antimatter to start ripping away the atmosphere in mighty explosions, is that it?

 

[RoJoHen]

Or maybe Star Trek has been lying to us all this time.

 

[Spaceman Spiff]

It'll be weirdly ironic if the thing that makes Trek possible is electrical superstorms.

 

[Alidar Jarok]

^

Antimatter studies have led to fairly anticlimactic results, imo. They collide and it sorta just disappears. No big explosions and faster than light travel, which is fairly disappointing.

 

[Zulu Romeo]

Antimatter studies have led to fairly anticlimactic results, imo. They collide and it sorta just disappears. No big explosions and faster than light travel, which is fairly disappointing.

So matter and antimatter, when they collide, truly nullify each other - not with a bang but with a whimper. Just like in Osmos.

 

[RoJoHen]

not with a bang but with a whimper.

Silent but deadly.

 

[Zulu Romeo]

not with a bang but with a whimper.

Silent but deadly.

I think I'll stick with the TS Eliot version.

 

[Trekker4747]

So matter-antimatter annihilation is going on, in the thunderstorms above our heads.

And we barely even notice it without GR detectors and other advanced scientific sensors. Hmm.

Weren't we led to believe that antimatter coming into contact with matter results in catastrophic consequences? I mean, where's the 'splosions?

It seems the annihilation is evident in gamma-ray flashes or bursts, and even these require instruments to detect. Is it only because this is happening with particle-sized stuff? We'd need grams of antimatter to start ripping away the atmosphere in mighty explosions, is that it?

Antimatter is in common use everyday. Don't believe me? Go to the doctor, ask for a PET scan.

Antimatter studies have led to fairly anticlimactic results, imo. They collide and it sorta just disappears. No big explosions and faster than light travel, which is fairly disappointing.

I'll say here no little about the particulars in this area but I'm going to make some presumptions here on what I DO know:

It seems this study is talking about not necessarily "antimatter" but an "antiparticle." And since we seem to be talking about lightning here I'm guessing an anti-electron atom (positron) which isn't exactly made of much mass.

In Trek, however, antimatter is being used. Slush deuterium (heavy Hydrogen) is combined with it's antimatter equivalent or an equivalent of matter not just particles. Considering a Hydrogen atom is orders of magnitude heavier than a simple electron you're looking at an incredible increase in the release of energy between what's happening here (and inside your body during a PET scan) and what's probably happening in the warp core of a starship. I believe it's been said/written that a starship uses something like a gram of antimatter an hour or something along those lines. I believe the TNG Tech Manual says that a photon torpedo carried 1.5 kilograms of antimatter! Or about 3 pounds of the stuff.

A gram of antimatter is orders of magnitude more than has ever been created/used by man (which I believe is measured in nanograms.)

 

[RedShirt]

Is it only because this is happening with particle-sized stuff? We'd need grams of antimatter to start ripping away the atmosphere in mighty explosions, is that it?

Yes and yes.

The Star Trek franchise's depiction of anti-matter in general is exaggerated for dramatic purposes.

 

[tharpdevenport]

So ... loosely ... could I say electrical superstorms are ... good (for a change)?


Imagine, if we could find a way to collect, store, and harness these gamma ray bursts ... this could be a big deal.

 

[ProtoAvatar]

Positrons (that's the antimatter) and electrons annihilate each other in such thunderstorms.
Their energy is small - that's why they don't create a big explosion. Harnessing their energy will barely be enough to power a few light bulbs.

You want a powerful bang? You need annihilationn between particles with large mass - protons and antiprotons, for example. Of course, antiprotons hold too much energy to be created so easy in large numbers.

 

[ThankQ]

not with a bang but with a whimper.

Silent but deadly.

I think I'll stick with the TS Eliot version.

Would you dare to eat an antipeach?