How much energy is released in an antimatter reaction?

The reaction of 1 kg of antimatter with 1 kg of matter would produce 1.8×1017 J (180 petajoules) of energy (by the mass–energy equivalence formula, E=mc2), or the rough equivalent of 43 megatons of TNT – slightly less than the yield of the 27,000 kg Tsar Bomba, the largest thermonuclear weapon ever detonated.

Can Matter and antimatter produce energy?

Antimatter-matter annihilations have the potential to release a huge amount of energy. A gram of antimatter could produce an explosion the size of a nuclear bomb. However, humans have produced only a minuscule amount of antimatter.

How much explosive power does antimatter have?

Matter and anti-matter annihilate each other on contact, releasing energy according to Einstein’s famous formula. This tells us that one pound of antimatter is equivalent to around 19 megatons of TNT. So, in theory, you could make a pocket-sized bomb that would devastate a city.

How much antimatter is needed to power the world?

A perfect conversion of antimatter-and-matter into energy releases 8.99 × 1016 Joules of energy per kilogram of combined matter/antimatter, which means you only need 3.1 tonnes of antimatter (and another 3.1 tonnes of matter) to power the whole world for a year.

What is the binding energy of matter-antimatter collisions?

The binding energy is part of the mass of the atom (mass=energy), so basically a small part of the total mass is converted into free energy. On the other hand, in a matter-antimatter collision, all the mass is converted into energy. For a 1kg ball of antimatter being annihilated, we get

What happens when matter and antimatter collide?

Since matter and antimatter carry an immense amount of energy (due to E = mc 2 ), their mutual annihilation is associated with production of intense photons ( gamma rays ), neutrinos, and sometimes less-massive particle–antiparticle pairs. One of best known processes is electron-positron annihilation.

What is the difference between an atomic bomb and matter-antimatter collision?

2 Answers. Atomic bombs convert the binding energy of the nucleus into free energy. The binding energy is part of the mass of the atom (mass=energy), so basically a small part of the total mass is converted into free energy. On the other hand, in a matter-antimatter collision, all the mass is converted into energy.

What is the energy of a 1kg ball of antimatter?

For a 1kg ball of antimatter being annihilated, we get E = m c 2 = ( 1 k g + 1 k g) × c 2 = 1.7 × 10 17 J In contrast, Little Boy (The Hiroshima bomb) contained 64 k g of uranium, of which only ≈ 700 m g was converted into energy, releasing ≈ 65 × 10 1 2 J of energy.