
But they only talk about the theoretical energy released by a matter-antimatter annihilation.

Another possibility is antimatter- powered “electromagnetic pulse” weapons that could fry an enemy’s electric power grid and communications networks, leaving him literally in the dark and unable to operate his society and armed forces. Answer (1 of 15): As I write this, all the other answers claim yes. More cataclysmic possible uses include a new generation of super weapons - either pure antimatter bombs or antimatter-triggered nuclear weapons the former wouldn’t emit radioactive fallout. With the knowledge gained, some Air Force insiders are beginning to think seriously about potential military uses - for example, antimatter bombs small enough to hold in one’s hand, and antimatter engines for 24/7 surveillance aircraft. But when matter and antimatter collide, they annihilate each other in an immense burst of energy.ĭuring the Cold War, the Air Force funded numerous scientific studies of the basic physics of antimatter. In a sense, matter and antimatter are the yin and yang of reality: Every type of subatomic particle has its antimatter counterpart.


#Antimatter bomb tv
The most powerful potential energy source presently thought to be available to humanity, antimatter is a term normally heard in science-fiction films and TV shows, whose heroes fly “antimatter-powered spaceships” and do battle with “antimatter guns.”īut antimatter itself isn’t fiction it actually exists and has been intensively studied by physicists since the 1930s. Air Force is quietly spending millions of dollars investigating ways to use a radical power source - antimatter, the eerie “mirror” of ordinary matter - in future weapons. Program was touted publicly, then came official gag order
