Antimatter Hysteria by Lee A few days ago there was a reported theft from a lab protected by Stark. Normally a theft would not be that news worthy however what was stolen was antimatter, and it was stolen by a Floran named Syntia! (coming soon:An Article on Syntia and Floran racism) Speculation burned through the Starnet fast fueled by Ray Beluga (for more information on Ray Beluga please see my article, "Who is Ray Beluga" http://community.playstarboundrp.com/threads/article-who-is-ray-beluga.2441/) and his claims that "One gram of antimatter could create an explosion 357,000,000,000 times as powerful as the human 20 kiloton bomb" or that it was the "equivalent of a 40 kiloton bomb" and that the missing 150 micrograms could "easily could wipe out an entire colony." In addition he cited only part of the GWC Treaty, completely ignoring the sections that allow antimatter to be used in medical imaging and the fact that it was once was and probably still is for many older ships used as a fuel for interplanetary or interstellar travel as part of an antimatter catalyzed nuclear pulse propulsion or other antimatter rocketry. So naturally I did some digging, and what I found out was remarkable. One gram of antimatter annihilating with one gram of matter produces 180 terajoules, the equivalent of 42.96 kilotons of TNT (approximately 3 times the bomb dropped on Hiroshima - and as such enough to power an average city for an extensive amount of time). One gram! But wait! How much was stolen again? 150 micrograms? That is only 0.00015 of a gram! that is 0.006444 kilotons of TNT, which by my research means that is it no more powerful that a conventional human bomb, circa 2000 AD that is. True, antimatter has fallen out of fashion for space travel what with the advent of modern fuel converters making it safer and easier for intersteller and interplantary travel, but the medical world is still using it a great deal to do positron emission tomography (PET) scans, as well as in some other more modern scans that work on the same principals, and without it the spread of many cancers would be left undetected. Yes, this antimatter could potentially be used for a bomb, however so can many household chemicals when improperly mixed and with about the same explosive capabilities of the missing antimatter. So lets all just breath a little easier, this is not the end of a world.
-Acetello- None the less she stole that anti matter and should be brought to justice, for taking the anti matter.
This is a great article, I wonder what the thief has planned for the antimatter, I don't know much about the Carroli Corp but from what I can tell they seem trustworthy and I wouldn't think them responsible. This Ray Beluga is definitely not just a everyday engineer, at the very least he seems shady. EDIT: I sure do typo alot when I wake up and start posting on starnet ... fixed - Del
Hsss thatss not fun. thatss not fun at all. thought sslave wass gonna do ssomething fun with thiss sstuff. iss dissappointed -Sharptooth
-anonymous- No significance? Maybe someone should drop such a bomb, which stroke Hiroshima , above your home town too. Then you'd see how this is not a significant event.