Translation talk:B antimatter txt/en
I have a few comments about the text used:
It's difficult to 'blow up' antimatter, but under the wrong circumstances, it can happen.
Actually...it's incredibly easy. Just have it come into contact with normal matter (which, on Earth, is anything which isn't antimatter). It's preventing an explosion which is difficult: the anti-matter must be kept sealed in a vacuum to keep it from getting into contact with gas molecules, and isolated from the walls with magnetic fields. Of course, the alien technology could use something other than magnetic fields...
However, my point is that all that is needed is for the antimatter containment system to fail just long enough for the antimatter to fall and hit the ground. Unless the alien technology provides an alternative method that does not rely on a continuous power source.
Also, that statement is rather odd considering what is written later: We can't just build up a pile of unstable, alien, possibly-damaged tanks of nuclear-level explosive.
If there were any fault or damage in the outer shell at this point, then the ensuing blast of gamma radiation and high-speed particles would escape and strip the area clean of life. The base would be poisoned and rendered uninhabitable for centuries to come.
Yes, the gamma radiation would kill all organic beings and probably fry any electronic circuits in the area, but gamma radiation is composed of photons: highly energetic light particles. I assumed that the phrase "poisoned and rendered uninhabitable" pointed to radioactive contamination. Antimatter contains absolutely no radioactive elements. As such, unless the materials used in the containment system contain these elements, there is no way breaching the containment could release radioisotopes.
The only way the area could be contaminated is by the radiation released by the explosion causing the surrounding materials to become themselves radioactive. Not that I have a physics degree ;) but I don't think materials rendered radioactive in that manner would have half-lives on the order of centuries. I'd say...a couple years, maybe a couple of decades. But to have the base poisoned for centuries? That's a bit of an exaggeration. Antimatter is considered pretty clean, much, much cleaner than nukes.
Considering that we can't duplicate the stuff, we're going to need every microgramme we can get our hands on.
I understand that for gameplay reasons, antimatter shouldn't be producible by PHOENIX, but it is rather inaccurate to say that antimatter can't be produced on Earth...it can. However, it's produced in rather small quantities, and inefficiently too, so most of the energy used to create the antimatter is lost.
Anyway, I hope that this helps. I know that it's a game, and so can take some artistic flourishes, but I've also noticed the emphasis that has been placed on realism, so I thought I'd contribute to that.
--Magician 21:44, 27 July 2007 (CEST)
- would a breach of antimatter create radioactive contamination?
- depends on what kind of antimatter. positrons (antielectrons) would not. antiprotons might (i am not sure).
The only plausible way of storing antimatter is in a vacuum. you would have ionise the anti-atoms to charge them. then they would be affected by magnetic fields. the anti-electrons stripped off the anti-atoms would circle the other way in the magnetic field, so would be in a different storage ring.
"radiation airlocks" makes no sense. an airlock is a pressure vessel. any antimatter contained in a vessel would annihilate the vessel.
"radiation-retardant gas" makes no sense. best way to stop most energetic ionising radiation is with a lot of mass. ie very dense material, not gas.
"difficult to 'blow up' antimatter". annihilation of antimatter is tha natural thing to happen on earth.
"blast of gamma radiation and high-speed particles would escape and strip the area clean of life". take 512keV photons from positron annihillation. these are mostly stopped by a single brick wall. however, if there was a lot of gamma, the wall would get hot. in fact vapourised. the heat from the scattering of reaction products is what would destroy the base
"Considering that we can't duplicate the stuff". oh yes we can. indeed, people are injected with positron emmiting isotopes everyday before PET scanning. I suggest "Considering that we can't duplicate the stuff in useful quantities".
I will redraft this article, if you are interested.
I do have a physics degree.
--Blondandy 10:01, 28 July 2007 (CEST)