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submitted 8 hours ago by throws_lemy@lemmy.nz to c/science@mander.xyz

For the first time in the world, antimatter is being transported by road at CERN in Geneva. The test carried out on Tuesday at the nuclear research centre is intended to prove that the antiparticles can be transported safely.

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[-] aburrito@sh.itjust.works 42 points 8 hours ago* (last edited 8 hours ago)

This is super cool. So it was anywhere from 100-1k anti protons transported 5 km, and my fave bit from the article

According to CERN, if the trap fails during transport, the energy released will be around one millionth of a joule – about as much as it takes to press a keyboard key.

Neat!

[-] eleijeep@piefed.social 29 points 8 hours ago

What type of key switch though?

[-] aburrito@sh.itjust.works 12 points 8 hours ago

Asking the important questions

[-] nexguy@lemmy.world 26 points 8 hours ago

People will door dash anything

[-] greyscale@lemmy.grey.ooo 10 points 8 hours ago

What does the transport safety square look like for a truck shifting anti-matter?

[-] Evil_Incarnate@sopuli.xyz 7 points 6 hours ago
[-] 7toed@midwest.social 3 points 5 hours ago

I adore how the rest of the fire diamond has absolutely no purpose and can be omitted

[-] Warl0k3@lemmy.world 2 points 7 hours ago* (last edited 7 hours ago)

In the US it would just be for the compressed refrigeration gasses (if any), likely 2-1963. If you felt cheeky you might have a Class 7 plaquard (radiation) too, but you'd probably get in trouble for incorrectly labeling your cargo since 100 anti-protons isn't exactly a radiological threat.

[-] desra@slrpnk.net 2 points 7 hours ago

Anyone remember the weasel?

If we keep this up, we’ll never reach Steins Gate.

[-] Masse022@piefed.ca -5 points 8 hours ago

So a potentially portable black hole?

[-] captainlezbian@lemmy.world 9 points 5 hours ago

Everyone is saying no, I want to explain why.

Black holes are a gravitational phenomenon. Basically too much mass in too small of an area distorts spacetime so heavily it prevents even light from escaping, though it does emit hawking radiation.

Antimatter is on the other hand a concept relating to a different fundamental force: electroweak interaction. Antimatter can be summed up as matter with the opposite charge. In an anti carbon 6 you'll find six anti protons (negatively charged particles the same size as protons and made of antiquarks), six anti neutrons (neutrons made of antiquarks), and orbiting around it will be six positrons (basically electrons but positive). It will have the exact same mass as a regular C^6.

Antimatter is relatively common these days, being produced in most major hospitals to be used as part of PET scans. It can be weaponized in theory, but volatility and volume to cost and transportability say it's unlikely to ever actually be used that way. This is risking an explosion of less force than a toddler's punch. And even an antimatter bomb big enough to send the earth to simultaneously collide with mars and Venus wouldn't open a black hole in it's explosion because explosions are in a force body sense, the opposite of a black hole. These things can feel mysterious and magical, but like everything else they're just physical manifestations of the math and physics our universe operates under

[-] atzanteol@sh.itjust.works 13 points 8 hours ago

Not even close.

[-] Warl0k3@lemmy.world 7 points 7 hours ago* (last edited 7 hours ago)
[-] frongt@lemmy.zip 6 points 7 hours ago

All black holes are portable, if you have the right equipment.

[-] captainlezbian@lemmy.world 1 points 5 hours ago

I'm curious what the equipment you're thinking of is

[-] ik5pvx@lemmy.world 2 points 1 hour ago

A very, very, very long lever.

Finding a place to use as fulcrum is left as an exercise to the reader.

[-] whats_a_lemmy@midwest.social 5 points 5 hours ago

A bigger black hole

this post was submitted on 24 Mar 2026
103 points (100.0% liked)

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