Could an antimatter alien's arrival on Earth cause a global explosion?

[LoveKnowledge]

Somebody told your friend that if an antimatter alien ever set foot upon Earth, the whole world would explode into pure radiant energy. Your friend looks to you for verification or refutation of this claim. What do you say?



N/A



I am confused at this question Seems simple but I am just confused..

 

[JaredJames]

Is this an actual homework question or a situation you have found yourself in?

The whole world wouldn't explode as far as I'm aware. The quantity of anti-matter would react with the same quantity of matter and release tremendous energy (basically converts to). But I don't believe it's enough to destroy the planet. Any destruction that did occur would be just that, no different to a bomb going off.

If you had a ball of anti-matter the size of Earth and it collided, then yes, the Earth would react and become pure energy.

Jared

 

[LoveKnowledge]

thx buddy. I assume the alien would explode and turn into radiant energy by itself since the quantity of anti-matter particles would be so miniscule compared to that of regular matter particles

 

[JaredJames]

The quantity of anti-matter interacting with the same quantity of matter becomes energy.

Anything else is left as is.

This energy, would be the equivalent of exploding a bomb. It would damage nearby items (matter or anti-matter alike).

Jared

 

[Janus]

If the alien massed 80 kg, the resultant energy of his interacting with an equal amount of matter would be in the order or 1.4e19 joules. This is about 40 times the energy of the largest nuclear bomb ever tested (the 50Mt "Tsar bomb"), or 80 times the energy released by the eruption of Mount St. Helens.