energy into matter

[redcannon]

I know that matter can be converted into energy (i.e. nuclear technology) but can energy be converted into matter?

[ComradeRed]

There were experiments done recently that demonstrated energy can be converted into electrons; it was done by focusing an extremely large number of lasers on a single point, and consequently electrons formed. Of course, only electrons were produced, and it required a large quantity of photons, but it is still possible...

[Qwerty Dvorak]

Yes as far as I know, massive amounts of energy have been converted into minuscule amounts of matter in CERN particle accelerators over in Europe. It involves using electromagnets to accelerate particles (moving in opposite directions to each other) to massive speeds (thus giving them massive amounts of kinetic energy), and then making them collide. As a result, new particles can be formed from the kinetic energy of the particles.

EDIT: Upon reading CR's post above I realize I'm probably wrong, oh dear. I really should pay more attention in physics.

[Janus]

but can energy be converted into matter?
It was done by a Stanford team back in the 1997/1998 with a linear accelerator.
SLAC (http://photonscience.slac.stanford.edu/lusi/instruments/hed.php)

CERN and Fermilab are also currently creating such conversions in their tests.

The experiment at Stanford was pretty much described by CR, they accelerated electrons and concentrated lasers on them shooting photons which absorbed energy. This reaction produced particles in the form of an electron and positron.
article (http://www.hep.princeton.edu/~mcdonald/e144/science1202.html)

More explanations:

Energy forming into matter usually happens on a very small scale. One
example is a beam of high energy photons of light passing through a magnetic
field. A photon of high enough energy can change into an electron and an
anti-electron (called a positron). In most cases, the electron and positron
rejoin into a photon again. In the large magnetic field, the two particles
are pulled apart. This prevents them from rejoining.

To get more matter to form requires a much greater amount of energy, all in
the same place. When the energy is in the form of fast-moving particles
(kinetic energy and mass energy), it is very easy to contain. Two colliding
particles is a great deal of energy at the collision site. Other forms of
energy (e.g. radiation, heat, potential energy) are either very small or
hard to contain.

You might then wonder how all the universe energy got into one location to
begin with. One theory states that the universe expands and collapses
repeatedly. When collapsing, all the matter gets so compact that it changes
into heat, like a super-giant star collapsing. It then explodes, changing
into matter when there is enough room to do so. The matter, with a great
deal of kinetic energy, expands. As it does this, small pieces of matter
join into larger pieces, eventually becoming stars. After expanding for
perhaps trillions of years, the matter starts pulling back together. The
whole process repeats forever. The universe had no actual beginning and
will not really ever end.

If there is only one explosion, then we cannot scientifically talk about
what was before the explosion. Before the universe began to exist, before
the explosion, time as we know it hadn't actually started. We cannot even
truly state what the universe was before the explosion. We know it was
energy, but we do not know the kind of energy.


This accomplished by accelerating ordinary particles up to very high speeds, close to the speed of light, and smashing them into each other. In an interesting collision, the result is a spray of new particles, many of which may be heavier than the original pair that collided. The energy of motion of the orignal particles has contributed to creating new ones. Some of these new particles are very interesting and exotic! Most only live for a short time before decaying into more ordinary stuff.

It is in this way that scientists have found out what kinds of particles exist. The world is made up of stable particles, and we only know about the unstable ones because we have been able to create them in the laboratory out of the energy in the collisions.

There are rules of course. Whenever a particle is made, certain things have to add up. The energy has to add up, of course. The total electrical charge cannot change, and so when many kinds of particles are made, the same number of antiparticles must also be made (some particles are their own antiparticles so you can make one of these at a time. Photons are examples of this). Antimatter annihilates with corresponding matter particles, and the result is eventually photons, leaving no net new matter.

[Dr Mindbender]

Originally posted by [email protected] 23, 2007 10:46 pm
I know that matter can be converted into energy (i.e. nuclear technology) but can energy be converted into matter?
What possible application could it have? What if you couldnt control what matter you get?

[ComradeRed]

Originally posted by Ulster Socialist+June 02, 2007 04:52 pm--> (Ulster Socialist @ June 02, 2007 04:52 pm)
[email protected] 23, 2007 10:46 pm
I know that matter can be converted into energy (i.e. nuclear technology) but can energy be converted into matter?
What possible application could it have? What if you couldnt control what matter you get? [/b]
I think we should first understand the structure of subatomic particles prior to making them from pure energy ;)

[ComradeR]

Isn't this the idea behind Einstein's equation E=mc2 "energy equals mass times the velocity of light squared" that both mass and energy can be converted into one another?

[Dr Mindbender]

Unless Ive misread my physics, I thought that the conservation of energy dictates that energy can't be created, or turned into 'anything else' Matter has weight, and therefore mass, Energy has neither of these so how it can suddenly obtain them sounds silly.

Originally posted by comradeR

Isn't this the idea behind Einstein's equation E=mc2 "energy equals mass times the velocity of light squared" that both mass and energy can be converted into one another?
Erm yes, the energy of the moving particle of mass in question.

[Janus]

I thought that the conservation of energy dictates that energy can't be created, or turned into 'anything else'
Energy can change forms but it can't be created. The conversion of energy into matter does follow rules, all the energy has to add up, the total electrical charge can't change, and the number of particles must equal the number of anti-particles.


Isn't this the idea behind Einstein's equation E=mc2 "energy equals mass times the velocity of light squared" that both mass and energy can be converted into one another?
Yes, and as the equation shows, it takes a huge amount of energy in order to create matter in this way.