Fact

           

           Theworld’slargestscientificresearchfacility—Switzerland’sConseilEuropéenpourlaRechercheNucléaire(CERN)—recentlysucceededinproducingthefirstparticlesofantimatter.Antimatterisidenticaltophysicalmatterexceptthatitiscomposedofparticleswhoseelectricchargesareoppositetothosefoundinnormalmatter.

           Antimatteristhemostpowerfulenergysourceknowntoman.Itreleasesenergywith100percentefficiency(nuclearfissionis1.5percentefficient).Antimattercreatesnopollutionorradiation,andadropletcouldpowerNewYorkCityforafullday.

           Thereis,however,onecatch…

           Antimatterishighlyunstable.Itigniteswhenitcomesincontactwithabsolutelyanything…evenair.Asinglegramofantimattercontainstheenergyofa20-kilotonnuclearbomb—thesizeofthebombdroppedonHiroshima.

           Untilrecentlyantimatterhasbeencreatedonlyinverysmallamounts(afewatomsatatime).ButCERNhasnowbrokengroundonitsnewAntiprotonDecelerator—anadvancedantimatterproductionfacilitythatpromisestocreateantimatterinmuchlargerquantities.

           Onequestionlooms:Willthishighlyvolatilesubstancesavetheworld,orwillitbeusedtocreatethemostdeadlyweaponevermade?

           

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