Weird Antimatter Particles Discovered Deep Underground - Polidicks

[quote]Exotic antimatter particles have been detected deep within the Earth's interior, scientists report. Studying these particles, which are thought to result from radioactive decay within Earth, could help scientists better understand how the flow of heat inside our planet affects surface events like volcanoes and earthquakes. The particles, called geoneutrinos, are made of a strange type of matter called antimatter, which has properties opposite those of regular matter. When a regular particle, like an electron, meets with its antimatter partner, called a positron, the two annihilate each other in an energetic explosion. Geoneutrinos are the antimatter partners of neutrinos, which are very lightweight, neutrally charged particles that are created within the sun and when a cosmic ray strikes a normal atom. An earlier project called KamLAND in Japan found the first signs of possible geoneutrinos in 2005. Giant steel sphere Researchers in the Borexino collaboration at the Gran Sasso National Laboratory of the Italian Institute of Nuclear Physics discovered the geoneutrinos inside a nylon sphere detector containing 1,000 tons of a hydrocarbon liquid. This sphere is encased within a larger stainless steel sphere in which an array of ultrasensitive photodetectors point at the inner nylon globe. Both of these layers are enclosed within a third 45-foot (13.7-m) diameter steel sphere holding 2,400 tons of highly purified water. The whole experiment is buried nearly a mile (1.6 km) below the surface of the Gran Sasso mountain in Italy. [Image of giant steel sphere] All of these fortifications serve to shield the experiment from detecting anything other than neutrinos and geoneutrinos. These particles are incredibly difficult to find, because they pass through almost everything without interacting in any way. Over a whole year of searching for the elusive geoneutrinos, the experiment detected only a few signals. The detection of solar neutrinos, which produces a different pattern, is somewhat more common. The researchers detailed their results from two years of operations – running through December 2009 – in a paper published in the April issue of the journal Physics Letters B. "This is an important result," co-researcher Frank Calaprice, a physicist at Princeton University in New Jersey, said in a statement. "It shows that geoneutrinos have been detected and firmly establishes a new tool to study the interior of the Earth." Earth's inner warmth Geoneutrinos are thought to be formed from the radioactive decay of uranium, thorium and potassium inside the Earth's crust (its outermost layer) and mantle (the layer below that, extending to 1,800 miles, or 2,900 km, beneath the surface). The researchers hope that by studying geoneutrinos, they can learn more about how decaying elements add to the heat beneath Earth's surface and affect processes like convection in the mantle. Whether radioactive decay dominates the heating in this layer, or merely adds to the heat from other sources, is an open question. Convection is a process of heat-driven mixing that pushes a flow of hot rock from deep in the interior up to the planet's surface. This drives plate tectonics, shifting the continents, spreading the seafloor, and causing volcanoes to erupt and earthquakes to tremble. The results of the new study suggest the radioactivity within Earth probably contributes a significant fraction of the heat in the mantle, Calaprice said.[/quote] [url]http://www.livescience.com/strangenews/antimatter-particles-geoneutrinos-underground-100625.html[/url] The centre of the Earth just gets cooler and cooler.

[QUOTE=wonkadonk;22916516] The centre of the Earth just gets cooler and cooler.[/QUOTE] I thought it was pretty hot.

[QUOTE=GamerKiwi;22916542]I thought it was pretty hot.[/QUOTE] I'd tap it. [sp]for mass amounts of geo-thermic energy[/sp]

[QUOTE=GamerKiwi;22916542]I thought it was pretty hot.[/QUOTE] That's the joke :P

I spend so much time staring into space I forget some of the weirder/cooler shit is still on this planet :v:

It's only a matter of time till we tap it for use

[QUOTE=Dr. Fishtastic;22917080]It's only a matter of time till we tap it for use[/QUOTE] It's only an antimatter of time till we don't tap it for use [editline]12:19AM[/editline] :xd:

ITT: Puns about the earth

[QUOTE=PivotDJ;22917121]ITT: Puns about the earth[/QUOTE] I'm glad you didn't get the fearth post

[QUOTE=wonkadonk;22917154]I'm glad you didn't get the fearth post[/QUOTE] That pun was terrable.

I'm sorry but, Scientists report and declare a lot of stuff.

[QUOTE=Billiam;22917167]That pun was terrable.[/QUOTE] I guess I shoulda gone to univearthity!!

Wow, what groundbreaking news.

[QUOTE=Monkeytracks;22917193]I'm sorry but, Scientists report and declare a lot of stuff.[/QUOTE] So what? [editline]12:31AM[/editline] [QUOTE=AutoTurret;22917204]Wow, what groundbreaking news.[/QUOTE] It's more exciting than you may think

So, they must be unique anti-matter particles then? I do know that one particle and one anti-particle will cancel each other out if they are of the same element.

you could almost say ... [i]"you'd have to penetrate both the lithosphere and the molten asthenosphere to acquire such materials!"[/i] HAHHAHAHA!

[QUOTE=Monkeytracks;22917193]I'm sorry but, Scientists report and declare a lot of stuff.[/QUOTE] Well, that's what scientists are for.

I'm kinda confused, first they say that "geoneutrinos" are antimatter, then they say that it comes from decaying Uraníum and Thorium.

[QUOTE=Daolpu;22916846]I spend so much time staring into space I forget some of the weirder/cooler shit is still on this planet :v:[/QUOTE] Good to see you've been brought back down to Earth. [editline]12:05PM[/editline] [QUOTE=jiggu;22920303]I'm kinda confused, first they say that "geoneutrinos" are antimatter, then they say that it comes from decaying Uraníum and Thorium.[/QUOTE] Well, antineutrinos are emitted from beta decay so it's not impossible. [editline]12:06PM[/editline] [QUOTE=SweetSwifter;22918136]So, they must be unique anti-matter particles then? I do know that one particle and one anti-particle will cancel each other out if they are of the[B] same element.[/B][/QUOTE] No. If an antiproton and a proton meet, they will annihilate, ditto with electrons/positrons and neutrons/antineutrons.

There's so much out in space, yet by the cubic kilometer, there's way more stuff inside the Earth and in our seas. And I ain't just talkin' 'bout these stylish antineutrinos with their femtoscale (two whole scales smaller than nanoscale) top hats an' whatever.

This is late as hell there was a thread about this like two weeks ago.

Earth to Wonkadonk: You're late!

Aren't weird anti matter particles called Quarks?

[QUOTE=RG4ORDR;22921659]Aren't weird anti matter particles called Quarks?[/QUOTE] No quarks make up all sub atomic particles and decide which type of particle they are. Everything is made of quarks, just different combinations make up certain particles.

[QUOTE=bravehat;22921753]No quarks make up all sub atomic particles and decide which type of particle they are. Everything is made of quarks, just different combinations make up certain particles.[/QUOTE] Well, leptons aren't. But yeah. Fun fact, a quark and an antiquark can be joined in a pair. In a single particle.

[QUOTE=MegaJohnny;22921766]Well, leptons aren't. But yeah. Fun fact, a quark and an antiquark can be joined in a pair. In a single particle.[/QUOTE] Okay well allow me to rephrase, quarks are the fundamental component of matter :v:

[QUOTE=bravehat;22921845]Okay well allow me to rephrase, quarks are the fundamental component of matter :v:[/QUOTE] Quarks are the fundamental components of hadrons, a type of matter. Leptons, the other type, are not made of quarks. Protons, neutrons, and their antimatter counterparts are hadrons (there are others, though) and electrons and positrons (as well as others) are leptons. The hadron group is split into baryons and mesons. Baryons are made up of 3 quarks (for example, a proton is 2 up quarks and a down quark), and mesons are made up of a quark and antiquark pair (not the same quark, or they would be annihilated).

So they found electron antineutrinos emitted by beta- decay from elements in the earth's core. i don't see why everyone is so excited about this. [QUOTE=bravehat;22921753]No quarks make up all sub atomic particles and decide which type of particle they are. Everything is made of quarks, just different combinations make up certain particles.[/QUOTE] Not quite. Go look up the standard model of particle physics.