Antimatter and matter would be reacted within a controlled environment, generating energy, and then chanelling it. Two types of annihilation reactions would be considered:
The energy derived from these reactions could be used directly to turn a turbine connected to a Faraday Dynamo, or it could be used indirectly by heating a working fluid, generating steam, which would then generate usable energy.
In our Antimatter Power Plant, a steady stream of Positrons would be fed into a reaction chamber, which would be preferably located in the centre of the Power Plant. Here, it would be combined with electrons i.e. normal matter, and this would create a controlled reaction. The ions created in the reaction chamber would be sent out through a magnetic channel into the Generator stage of the Power Plant where it induces current. This AC current will then follow the normal procedure i.e. it will be fed into the Transformer to step-up the current and it will reach people’s homes via power lines.
But if antimatter is so volatile, how to store it?
Antimatter cannot be stored in any material container as it would immediately annihilate, releasing tremendous energy in the process. That makes it very difficult to contain. But since antimatter is of an ionic nature, it can be suspended inside a vacuum between the walls of a container by using adequately powerful magnetic fields.
A device known as the
Penning trap has been constructed by the University of Pennsylvania. It uses the superposition of magnetic and static electric fields to trap an anti-ion between the walls of a container. To channel the antimatter into the reaction chamber from the containment chamber, the electric field would merely have to be removed from the direction leading to the chamber (while the magnetic field would be downwards). Using electrical pulses to push the anti-ions through to the chamber, we could then react them with their normal counterparts, generating energy in the process.
For antimatter consisting of electrically neutral particles, a
Magnetic Trap is used. A Magnetic moment uses a magnetic gradient to trap particles having a magnetic moment. Since all particles are intrinsically magnetic (since they are composed of charged particles, but the net charge is zero), this is very effective in storing neutral antimatter, like anti-atoms.
Magnetic trap, for holding electrically neutral anti-particles.
Other techniques are being sought for, and NASA’s work on a new technology called HiPAT (High Performance Antiproton Trap) aims at improving the situation still more through the use of strong magnetic fields and extreme cooling. Japanese researcher
Masaki Hori is currently researching on a method of using radio frequency waves rather than magnetic fields to store anti-protons.
How can antimatter be used as fuel?
One of the most attractive uses of antimatter is as
rocket fuel. This would enable us to reach distant star systems in a fraction of the time and costs it would take us today. For example, Alpha Centauri, the nearest star system to us, is 4.3 light years away from us. At present levels of technology, it would take 40000 years to reach it. Even after taking into consideration relativistic effects such as
time dilation, it would still take 4 or 5 generations to reach there, and another 4 or 5 to come back. Antimatter jets could accelerate us to near light velocities, making the round trip in less time than the lifespan of a single human on board (maybe a couple of generation in earth time). Eventually, the earth is going to die, in a few billion years' time. More info on this
here. Stellar colonisation is essential for human survival (I hope I'm not sounding pro-invasion ;) ).
A viable schematic of an antimatter rocket.
Another is as mentioned above. To meet the growing energy demand of the planet. In a non-polluting, eco-friendly way.
Any major breakthroughs\developments in this field?
Yes. Quite recently, developments have been made in the production and storage of antimatter. Scientists at C.E.R.N.'s Anti-hydrogen Laser Physics Apparatus have trapped 309 anti-hydrogen atoms for 1,000 seconds using superconducting magnets. This is an enormous improvement over the previous record: 38 anti atoms for a period of only 172 milliseconds in 2010.
The Large Hardron Collider, CERN.
These are gigantic developments causing the production costs of antimatter to drop steeply. In the foreseeable future, antimatter could be commercially produced and used to for energy generation.
So far, particle accelerators that can produce antiprotons are not specifically designed to do so, so they are quite inefficient. Such particle accelerators are designed primarily to be research tools, not factories for antimatter. That is why there is a need for building a new particle accelerator that will be specifically designed to produce copious quantities of antiprotons to drive down the cost.
Antimatter tracks (along with gamma rays and other particles) detected by LHC.
What makes antimatter so good as a fuel?
For one thing, antimatter is tremendously efficient. For another thing, it could be reacted with the wastes produced in the world. Antimatter doesn't distinguish between what kind of matter is required. We could react a kg of antimatter with one kg of garbage, giving us energy,
and reducing garbage, by one kg. It will not just reduce pollution, but
actually eliminate it, piece by piece!
Besides that, it does not release any polluting waste residue. Whatever by-products are formed, decay naturally into neutrinos, which are harmless.
Okay. What are the cons, or problems of this?
Some of the problems have already been cited above. The problems can be summarised as below:
- Right now, Generation of antimatter in particle accelerators (such as LHC in CERN or Tevatron of Fermilabs) requires enormous amounts of power, and the amount of antimatter produced, or even the antimatter finally stored (which also takes up a lot of energy) gives far less energy. Thus, alternative methods are being used to obtain antimatter.
- And as Antimatter is still being artificially generated, enough quantities are not being generated. However, in the coming years, and concerning the recent developments in the field, it won’t be long before we find a source.
- Antimatter is also highly volatile, and would need to be used in the most careful conditions, because a slight containment breach would lead to a massive disaster (since antimatter reactions produce exponentially greater power than even a fusion reaction on that scale).
- And there is the cost problem. Science today is limited in doing research because of cost constraints. Until a source of antimatter is found, this problem will not be resolved.
The PDF of the above can be found
here.
This project was met with a lukewarm response at the National KVS Science Exhibition. But the future of this project doesn't stop at the denial of recognition by a zoo (yup; KVS is a zoo). This is a viable alternative to squeezing the planet dry of its resources. As such, it should be taken seriously by all.
Although impractical, and unfeasible at present technologies, antimatter will, hopefully, become a commercially available reality in a few decades. Soon, this will be running all our energy needs. It will boost development by a few orders of magnitude...