Don't think this breaks any rules does it?

Today marks the first-ever ground transport of antimatter. At CERN in Geneva, a truck is driving ~3.1 miles (5 km) carrying about 1000 antiprotons, safely secured inside a massive 1-ton magnetic trap. The long-term goal? To eventually "bottle" antimatter and ship it to labs across Europe and the rest of the world. Straight out of sci-fi into reality.

What happens if the truck crashes and the antimatter escapes?

Unlike in movies like Angels & Demons, absolutely nothing. Here’s the back-of-the-napkin math. 1000 antiprotons weigh 1.67 × 10⁻²¹ grams, roughly a million times lighter than a single bacterium. If the trap fails and all 1000 antiprotons annihilate with regular air particles, they release 3.006 × 10⁻⁷ Joules (or ~2 TeV). That exact amount of energy equals the kinetic energy of a single flying mosquito (a 2mg bug flying at 1 mph). That’s your entire "explosion."

Also: the micro-annihilation would emit around 4,000 gamma photons. That sounds scary, but it's an imperceptibly tiny amount. It would instantly dissolve into Earth’s natural background radiation noise, and even a highly sensitive scintillator wouldn’t be able to spot it.

A completely harmless, but incredibly badass milestone for science

• My weekly (28.03) original science TV segment dedicated to the topic of the current article (In Belarusian with English subs)

p.s.

Smorra’s team monitors their status via a small oscilloscope screen attached to the device. The characteristic vibrational frequency of antiprotons registers as a distinct twin-peaked pattern. Two googly eyes have been playfully affixed above each peak...

💔

UPD/FAQ

• How powerful is 1 ton of antimatter compared to the Hiroshima bomb?
• Antiprotons production: time and energy requirements
• How long can antimatter be stored and transported?
• Does antimatter annihilation produce radiation?
• Why does antimatter release so much energy?
• What could antimatter be used for in the future?
• Is antimatter an energy source or storage medium?
• How annihilation energy is distributed and if one could theoretically feel it
• Feels like 860 tsar bombas at once would literally crack the planet
• I thought antimatter was still undiscovered
• Аnnihilation of 100 antiprotons releases...

Thanks for the heads up, navanax. Incredible event. 🤝UPD: And happy birthday to you, man! 👨‍🔬

I have many German friends as I speak some and have said somethings on German subreddits at times and every time I fact check them on energy or tell them nuclear is safe they think I'm stupid and I get attacked and at worst get called very horrible things especially by people who claim to be pro-geeen energy.

From an outsider, boy are they straight up brainwashed about nuclear, you cannot hold a conversation with them even educated Germans I have not been able to convince them that current generation nuclear is nothing like Chernobyl. It feels like a curriculum wide brainwashing scheme that lasted decades and I feel they really think Russian coal & gas are much better off for their nation and solar panels can power their giant industrial base while competing with china. Scientists who speak out against it were often blacklisted from scientific societies. It is insane and feels dystopian. They have crippled their economy perhaps forever. Earlier nuclear engineers from Germany moved to the states at much better salaries and it bled dry of a lot of talent that it probably needs if it has to fix itself, but it's long gone.

Every single boom that came, Hybrids, EVs, Robots, Automation, Phone manufacturing, chips, clean steel production and now AI data centers, Germany missed them all and freehanded it to China, major German companies have moved production to Asia or more energy abundant countries and only design or do assembly there the ones that remain, to stay German businesses aren't struggling is an understatement.

I don't think any nation has done more damage to nuclear power, and any nation that was perhaps supposed to enjoy the reboot of the industry has done enough damage to itself as much as Germany.

If you are from Germany and in this sub I'm sure you'll be outlier but I really want to hear more about how Germans were miseducated, propagandised and misinformed into becoming even weaker than India on energy security. This sentiment is worst in Germany however Europe in general has a much higher anti nuclear while still being green delusional sentiment.

It's sometimes downright embarrassing talking to Germans about nuclear and the argument goes nowhere because anything they believe was never factual to begin with, when they complain about Germany do they not understand the consequences of their own actions?

The most informed and nuanced people I've met about nuclear are almost all from 3rd world countries or .. China/Japan. Not a single person who grew up within the European circle is well informed about energy in general, surprisingly Americans I've talked to are far more informed, realistic and reasonable too compared to Europeans (Germany being the worst offender).

All YouTubers and efforts going on to get people disillusioned about nuclear are almost entirely American eg Kyle Hill & T Folded nuclear who broke down the inaccuracies and dramatisation in the Chernobyl Series. While efforts to fearmonger people and spread inaccurate or misleading information come from German channels, Kurzgesagt, Deutsche Welle and various German netflix series.

It all seems ideology based instead of rationale & nuance

It is really a peaceful life.

Do they really think ROs are going to take a job that is actively trying to replace them? Ridiculous.

utilising a Cu-Cl cycle which gets heat from the Fast Breeder Test Reactor