CERN makes and traps anti-matter, mystery of science

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megman
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CERN makes and traps anti-matter, mystery of science

Post by megman » 11-17-2010 04:04 PM

GENEVA, Nov. 17, 2010 (Reuters) — Physicists at the European Center for Nuclear Research (CERN) announced on Wednesday they have created and trapped anti-matter, one of the biggest mysteries of modern science.

In an article in the journal Nature, CERN said it had produced anti-hydrogen atoms -- the opposite of a hydrogen atom -- in a vacuum and kept them viable for about a tenth of a second: "Long enough to study them," it said.

Some 38 anti-hydrogen atoms have now been trapped long enough for scientists to take a look at them in their quest to understand what happened to anti-matter after the Big Bang explosion that created the universe.

"For reasons that no one yet understands, nature ruled out anti-matter," Jeffrey Hangst, a spokesman for the "Alpha" experiment, said in a statement. "This inspires us to work that much harder to see if anti-matter holds some secret."

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Post by Linnea » 11-18-2010 12:44 AM

Difficult to understand much of this, megman. Absorb what I can though. ;)

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Post by megman » 11-18-2010 01:21 AM

Well basically it shows they can create it and contain it, albeit they would have to do it for 1000 yrs to get enough energy to make your morning coffee.

The Trekkies can appreciate this as hopefully down the road it can be harnessed as a viable power source.
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