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Antimatter weapon

Theoretical weapon using antimatter

Theoretical weapon using antimatter

An antimatter weapon is a theoretically possible device using antimatter as a power source, a propellant, or an explosive for a weapon. Antimatter weapons are currently too costly and unreliable to be viable in warfare, as producing antimatter is enormously expensive (estimated at US$6 billion for every 100 nanograms), the quantities of antimatter generated are very small, and current technology has great difficulty containing antimatter, which annihilates upon touching ordinary matter.

The paramount advantage of such a theoretical weapon is that antimatter and matter collisions result in the entire sum of their mass energy equivalent being released as energy, which is at least two orders of magnitude greater than the energy release of the most efficient fusion weapons (100% vs 0.4–1%). Annihilation requires and converts exactly equal masses of antimatter and matter by the collision which releases the entire mass-energy of both, which for 1 gram is ~9×1013 joules. Using the convention that 1 kiloton TNT equivalent equals 4.184×1012 joules (or one trillion calories of energy), one half gram of antimatter reacting with one half gram of ordinary matter (one gram total) results in 21.5 kilotons-equivalent of energy (the same as the atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki in 1945).

Cost

, the cost of producing one millionth of a gram of antimatter was estimated at . By way of comparison, the cost of the Manhattan Project (to produce the first atomic bomb) is estimated at US$23 billion in 2007 prices. As such, Hui Chen of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory dismissed concerns about antimatter bombs in 2008 as "unrealistic".

Antimatter-catalyzed weapons

Antimatter-catalyzed nuclear pulse propulsion proposes the use of antimatter as a "trigger" to initiate small nuclear explosions; the explosions provide thrust to a spacecraft. The same technology could theoretically be used to make very small and possibly "fission-free" (very low nuclear fallout) weapons (see pure fusion weapon).

References

References

  1. "Fusion Fuel".
  2. "Antimatter Fuel".
  3. (4 October 2004). "Air Force pursuing antimatter weapons / Program was touted publicly, then came official gag order". [[San Francisco Chronicle]].
  4. McKeown, Matthew. (18 December 2023). "Antimatter Tops List Of World's Most Expensive Material At $62 Trillion Per Gram".
  5. "Manhattan Project".
  6. (1 December 2008). "Laser technique produces bevy of antimatter". NBC News.
  7. "Antimatter weapons".
  8. Ramsey, Syed. (12 May 2016). "Tools of War: History of Weapons in Modern Times". Vij Books India Pvt Ltd.
  9. (22 September 2015). "Details on antimatter triggered fusion bombs - NextBigFuture.com".
  10. "Angels & Demons: The Physics Behind The Movie (and The Book)".
  11. Degorram. (2020-09-23). "QUAKE 2: Ground Zero {{!}} Part 25 {{!}} Anti-Matter Bomb".
  12. (1991). "The Making of Star Trek". Ballantine Books.
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