undefined | Better HN

0 pointsenko15y ago0 comments

> I kind of hope that's not how they go about achieving this

Don't worry. The design is impractical anyway - regulating the "anti-mass" would be extremely difficult. Just when you got it balanced, the kid would drink a glass of water and the board would sink into the ground.

Due caution would indeed be advisable when selling these gadgets, though. A matter-antimatter collision of 50kg would be equivalent to about 2.1 gigatons of TNT, or about 400 times more powerful than the most powerful hydogen bomb ever developed, so it would indeed caused a "considerable amount of damage".

0 pointsenko15y ago0 comments

> I kind of hope that's not how they go about achieving this

0 comments

7 comments · 2 top-level

StavrosK15y ago· 3 in thread

So you're saying that this has fantastic military applications? Interesting...

jacques_chester15y ago

The military don't like antimatter weapons because they are fail-dangerous. They require active stabilisation.

If a nuke fails, nothing happens. If antimatter containment fails, your entire arsenal of antimatter weapons go up at once.

For a similar reason, nitroglycerin is strangely unpopular for both civilian and military purposes.

StavrosK15y ago

Interesting, so you are suggesting some sort of gun that creates antimatter in a remote location. That's a great idea!

1 more reply

enkoOP15y ago

So .. you don't read much sci-fi, do you?

pavel_lishin15y ago· 2 in thread

> The design is impractical anyway

Nah, you just need a miniature collider inside the board, manufacturing more anti-matter as necessary.

And obviously, it would be powered by annihilating matter/antimatter together, via a small Mr. Fusion at the back.

amalcon15y ago

They could just use a compressed-air ballast tank. That would certainly be simpler than a miniature collider, and the explosion risk isn't that bad compared to the rest of the device.

enkoOP15y ago

That is a good solution. You should patent it! METHOD FOR DYNAMICALLY REGULATING BALLAST MASS ON ANTI-GRAVITY FLOATATION TRANSPORT DEVICE

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse