Astronomers
-----------------------------------------------
The energy produced from
Matter-AntiMatter annihilations
is equal to
the mass times the square of the speed of light (E=mc2).
-----------------------------------------------
| Today, there are several hundreds of comets,
composed of antimatter, orbiting the sun. Everyday, astronomers are tracking fifteen to twenty
comets. During the last century, astronomers and scientist have seen the destructive power
when twenty-one fragments from the Comet
Shoemaker_Levy9 collided with
Jupiter during the period of July 16 through 22, 1994. They have observed
the devastation from
a comet fragment that collided with the earth's atmosphere in Russian Siberia on the morning
of June 30, 1908. To help you understand the enormous amount of energy, Halley's comet is provided for
comparison. |
Object
(Mass) |
Energy
(Ergs or Joules) |
Energy 1/
(Megatons of TNT, Sunsec & Sunyrs) |
Fragment's collision with
Earth (Siberia)
(1.65 Kilograms) |
1.3 x 1024 ergs
1.3 x 1017Joules |
30 Megaton TNT
3.1 x 10-10sunsecs |
Comet's collision
with Jupiter
(6,7000 Metric tons) |
4.2 x 1030 ergs
4.2 x 1023 Joules |
100 Million Megatons TNT
1.0 x 10-3 Sunsec |
Halley's Comet
(3 Trillion
Metric tons) |
3.8 x 1039 ergs
3.8 x 1032 Joules |
9 x 1016 Megatons TNT
9.4 x 105 Sunsec or 3.0 x 10 -2 Sunyrs |
- Megaton of TNT is energy produced by annihilating
(converting) 46.4 grams of antimatter into energy or 4.2x10 22 ergs
or 4.2x1015Joules
- Sunsec (sun second) is the energy produced by the sun in one
second from converting 4.44x10 12 grams of matter into energy or
4x10
33 ergs or 4x1026Joules.
- Sunyr (sun year) is the energy
produced by the sun in one year from converting 1.4x10 20 grams of matter into energy
or 1.26x10 41 ergs/1.26x1034Joules.
The energy from the comet
fragments that collided with Jupiter was 100 Million Megatons TNT. This is equal to the
total destructive power of all the nuclear weapons in the world. We
are very fortunate that the comet didn't collide with earth. If
the comet fragment, which did collided with earth, had destroyed a major city during the
cold war, the preemptive force of the United States and Soviet Union would have brought
about the complete destruction of the world as we know it.
In the last century,
we have been extremely lucky. Humanity may not be as
fortunate in this century.
|