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The description of anti-matter in the story suggests that it is
controversial, new, dangerous, and helpful for addressing the world's energy
problems. In fact, anyone who has had a PET scan has had a first-hand encounter
with antimatter since the P in PET stands for positron, which is an anti-matter
version of an electron. While everyday physics, engineering and technology does
not generally involve anti-matter, its existence was predicted and then
confirmed in the 1920s and 1930s by Paul Dirac and others. So, far from being
new, fundamental physics research since that time has inevitably involved the
prediction and study of anti-matter versions of 'normal' matter.
While it is true that when matter and anti-matter meet they annihilate with
the energy given by E = mc2 (doubled since the anti-matter and
equivalent normal matter are destroyed) Dan Brown's characterization of this
annihilation needs to be fleshed out.
Firstly, there is no net gain of mass/energy in the annihilation, so
unfortunately it cannot serve as a source of free energy. In the novel, Vittoria
demonstrates to Langdon the impressive amount of energy that is released when
just '5000 nanograms' (i.e 5 micrograms) of antimatter annihilates by
interacting with its container (page 64, 69). Brown describes this as a
brilliant flash of light where the container simply disappears, but the effect
in reality would be far more dramatic. The energy released would be roughly
equivalent to a 500 lb TNT bomb blast. But very importantly, the energy
required to produce that much anti-matter in the first place is greater than
that in a 500 lb bomb. In short, anti-matter is - pound-for-pound - the most
dense and efficient means of storing energy (which is why it is a favorite
power source for sci-fi spacecraft propulsion) but it is of no help with our
everyday energy needs. (see p71)
A recurring theme in the story is science as illumination - as light. Dan
Brown describes an anti-matter annihilation in an analogous manner, as pure
energy, pure light. In reality, a 5 microgram annihilation would be far
more than simply illuminating. While it's true that light would be produced
(i.e. electromagnetic radiation), it would not be simply white light like that
we see from the Sun, it would be in the form of high energy Gamma radiation and
X-rays - like that produced by an atom bomb's initial flash - this would then
irradiate the surrounding matter, heating and ionizing it, releasing secondary
particles and forming a shockwave. All in all, it would be an unhealthy
affair. (p65-67)
Notes
- The anti-matter calculation in the preface is off by a
factor of two. The energy equivalent of 1g of matter is indeed similar to
that released by a 20 kilotonne atomic bomb, but since 1g of antimatter
would annihilate with 1g of normal matter, the total energy released is
doubled. So, only half a gram would be needed to yield an explosion
equivalent to the Hiroshima bomb. This means that the anti-matter sample
Langdon and Vetra are searching for has double the energy too, i.e. 10
kiltonnes rather than five.
- In the 2006 edition the anti-matter demonstration is
described as both a 5000 nanogram sample (p64) and elsewhere as just 500
nanograms (p72).
- While Vittoria claims they have the world's first
specimen of antimatter, several institutions have successfully trapped
samples of microscopic size (p62)
- Protons are not the opposite of electrons in any sense
other than they have an opposite charge (p63). The anti-matter proton is
called an anti-proton, and an anti-matter electron is a positron.
- On page 64, Dan Brown describes the anti-matter sample
as a "liquid plasma of hydrogen" which sounds impressive, but
makes no sense at all. Liquid and plasma are two mutually exclusive states
of matter, so it must be one or the other. If it's a plasma, then it would
not technically be anti-hydrogen (as the positrons would not be bound to
the nuclei to make atoms), and so it would be more accurate to refer to it
as a collection of anti-protons. If it's liquid anti-hydrogen, it would
need to be kept extremely cold. But setting physics aside, 'liquid plasma'
certainly sounds better, and is deserving of a place in science-fiction
alongside Star Treks' 'transparent aluminum.'
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| Contributed by: Adrian Wyard
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