Anti-Matter Explosions

[VidiianSkinRash]

When matter and anti-matter collide they annihilate each other, but would different types of matter/anti-matter create bigger or smaller explosions and radiation?

For example, would the destructive force of a proton/anti-proton be more or less than a quark/anti-quark?

Also, what would happen if you fired an Anti-proton beam at a piece of metal? I imagine the anti-protons would annihilate the protons within the metal so what would then happen to all the other particles that made up the metal and the element(s)?

 

[Jadzia]

When matter and anti-matter collide they annihilate each other, but would different types of matter/anti-matter create bigger or smaller explosions and radiation?

There are two important things:
- energy
- preservation of quantum numbers

eg, protons are more massive than quarks, so impact speed being equal, they would liberate more energy in collision with their anti-selves.

Also, what would happen if you fired an Anti-proton beam at a piece of metal? I imagine the anti-protons would annihilate the protons within the metal so what would then happen to all the other particles that made up the metal and the element(s)?

The energy goes somewhere: photons, electrons, neutrinos, muons, and the thermal energy of those particles. The other stuff in the metal would be showered in this radiation, heating it, and a small percentage could undergo secondary reactions, as with electron capture.

 

[publiusr]

A critical mass of plutonium and anti-plutonium would be interesting...

 

[Asbo Zaprudder]

You'd get much more energy released by annihilation than by neutron-induced fusion. In fact, the annihilation of neutrons with anti-neutrons would probably dampen the fusion effect and require the critical mass to be much larger. It'd be simpler just to use the annihilation. I seem to recall reading that the limits on tamping of both kinds of energy release means that the effective yield is limited to about 100MT for each.

 

[KJbushway]

With the anti-proton thing. It was my understand that unless you matched the amount of protons in the metal, the anti-proton beam would just pass through and keep going until it did match the proton number of a surface it came in contact with.
Again I could just be thinking of anti-matter itself instead of individual atomic elements.

 

[Asbo Zaprudder]

With the anti-proton thing. It was my understand that unless you matched the amount of protons in the metal, the anti-proton beam would just pass through and keep going until it did match the proton number of a surface it came in contact with.
Again I could just be thinking of anti-matter itself instead of individual atomic elements.

Uh, that's just not the case at all. I assume by "proton number" you mean something like "proton density" not "baryon number". There is a cross-sectional probability for proton-antiproton annihilation and various particles arising thereof, which depends on the energy in the collision frame of reference. Obviously, there's more chance of a collision if you fire the beam at a high-density target than a low-density one.