My Ted Talk- Antimatter!!!
June 17, 2011
Enjoy! Wow, I sound more Asian than I thought… 
See also:
- In-Depth Blog #8! (May 11, 2012)
- In-Depth Blog #7 (April 27, 2012)
- In-Depth Blog #6 (April 13, 2012)
- My Showcase of Learning (April 13, 2012)
- In-Depth Blog Post #5 (March 30, 2012)
June 18th, 2011 at 11:14 am
I think that it was a very good topic, ted talk, and also I love how it was very scientific, but also not boring and dull to listen to, since it was humorous.
June 18th, 2011 at 12:02 pm
Great TED Talk Jonathan!
I just have one question- if antimatter is so volatile and explosive how can scientists harness it and use it for fuel?
June 18th, 2011 at 4:39 pm
To Sepehr: The scientist could use a Penning trap, as I said in my video. Or they could use some other device that sends out magnetic waves to keep it suspended.
June 18th, 2011 at 6:37 pm
Hey Jonathan
Very scientific TED talk I think we’re only scratching the surface of this topic and it’s already getting very complicate. I like how you went in-depth enough to pass on key ideas and details of antimatter, but not enough to confuse the viewers. I enjoy the amount of humour in your TED talk as well (various jokes) it provides some relief from the heavy-duty scientific talk in your TED talk, it keeps otherwise bored viewers from rage quitting halfway haha. I also like how you used a Teleprompter so you maintained eye contact or “virtual” eye contact with the camera. As a suggestion, I think you should have a longer conclusion covering the uses of antimatter, like a recap of your antimatter episode. Just a question,for the beamed core, how is the matter forced out? Is it forced out by it’s own “annihilation” or by other means?
-Derek
June 18th, 2011 at 6:51 pm
To Derek: Um, when I read the article, it said that the matter was forced out from a magnetic nozzle. I left out the word magnetic because I thought that it would just be too wordy.. And yeah, I was trying to figure out a good conclusion, but I couldn’t really think of one, so I just stuck with what I had. Thanks for the input!
June 18th, 2011 at 8:37 pm
Very mysterious and intriguing topic. What is the extent of the things we could do with this fabulous new technology? It seems that we’ve just discovered something alien, and we still have no idea what it does or how to work it. How can we be sure that it is safe to use within our everyday life? With it being radioactive and all, and the part about it, well, annihilating itself whenever it reacts with matter, I’m not so sure about adapting this crazy new item (or anti-item) to do things we need to do. Sure, it’s very powerful, and in theory very useful, but it’s scary to think that it could backfire on us at any moment.
June 19th, 2011 at 1:10 pm
Great job Jonathan. I agree with Derek in terms of what you did well. A few questions:can we see antimatter? I realize it’s probably microscopic, but can it combine with other antimatter the way matter does? or does that make it explode too? Also, how long do you think it will take for anti-matter to become a reality. Are we waiting for a scientific break through? Or do scientists know hot to use it and its just time-consuming/dangerous?
Thanks and great job
-Michelle
June 19th, 2011 at 8:03 pm
To Macguire: Although it is true that antimatter is extremely dangerous, a lot of technologies in the past have been seen as extremely dangerous as well. Take nuclear power, for example. The radiation and energy in the fission process is insanely dangerous, and it caused a lot of nuclear meltdowns and problems. However, through time and research, scientists were eventually able to make it safe enough so that the pros outweighed the cons. I’m not saying that antimatter will ever be risk free, but hopefully, we’ll be able to make it safe enough that its pros will outweigh its cons as well.
To Michelle:
We could theoretically see antimatter; according to what we know, antimatter is essentially the same as matter, except for the charges being opposite. So we should theoretically be able to antimatter combine the same way matter does.
I’m not sure how long it will take to make antimatter a reality; there are still a lot a problems with it, the least of which being that it explodes. However, I think we are getting closer; a lot a labratories are starting to realize the potential of antimatter, and so a lot more people are trying to figure out how to make antimatter a reality. I’m really not sure how long it will take; all it could take is one break-through. Right now, scientists can keep antimatter particles suspended for theoretically forever, but it consumes a lot of energy, so it’s not really viable for now. Atoms are a lot trickier, as I said before, and I’m not sure how long it will take scientists to figure out how to keep it suspended. So I’m guessing that it’s probably under the “waiting for a scientific breakthrough” category,
June 19th, 2011 at 8:33 pm
I really like your TED talk, and the fact that its so informative. You did a pretty good job of keeping thing interesting. At least, to me. (*cough*EXPLOSIONS*cough*)
After watching the entire thing, I’m wondering if antimatter could possibly be created more efficiently, especially when it comes to using it as fuel.
-Clayton
June 19th, 2011 at 11:40 pm
Great TED Talk, the images really helped to illustrate you topic. I am wondering, if exact parts of matter and anti-matter are created after what is essentially a giant explosion, then why did the big bang create mostly matter? Shouldn’t it have created a universe made of half anti-matter and half matter, which then would have gone up in another giant explosion as soon as the two touched? Or was it just by some chance factor that almost all of the energy was converted in to matter?
I am also wondering gif there are any noticeable structural differences in anti-matter compared to matter? Could you have a universe completely made of anti-matter, where you would have matter as the exiting but dangerous new power source.
Jen S
P.S. Wouldn’t 10 nanograms be ten times a billionth of a gram or 0.0000000003527396195oz
June 21st, 2011 at 9:26 am
To Jen S:
Um, no one yet knows why the big bang didn’t create equal parts of matter and antimatter. Scientists are conducting research right now to try and figure out why, but they still don’t know. Apparently, it violates a couple fundamental laws right now, so they’re looking for more differences between matter and antimatter. As of right now, however, the only difference is the charges, so theoretically, a universe could be made up of antimatter. Also, I knew what 10 nanograms was.. I meant that I couldn’t find anything that was that small.
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