strangelets

will kill us all in a matter of seconds.. yes particles from neutrons stars and high speed colliders can "convert" normal matter to strange matter if they come into contact. They are made of strange quarks...

@ogb said
will kill us all in a matter of seconds.. yes particles from neutrons stars and high speed colliders can "convert" normal matter to strange matter if they come into contact. They are made of strange quarks...

run!!!

@ogb
I bet some military think tanks are figuring out how to turn that into a weapon.

@ogb said
will kill us all in a matter of seconds.. yes particles from neutrons stars and high speed colliders can "convert" normal matter to strange matter if they come into contact. They are made of strange quarks...

Now you got me super-curious:

Could you hold a fistful of this strange matter in your hand?
Would it be hard or squishy or liquidy?
Would it be light or heavy?
Would it be super-strong or crumbly?
Would it burn or explode?
Could you make shoes out of it?

@bunnyknight
you would be dead instantly once contact with one particle happens

@ogb said
@bunnyknight
you would be dead instantly once contact with one particle happens

The only way I see that happening is if one of your converted atoms causes other nearby atoms to convert in a domino-like effect. And how do you know that you wouldn't simply be converted into a new 'anti-person' or 'strange-matter-person' without even knowing it?

@bunnyknight said
The only way I see that happening is if one of your converted atoms causes other nearby atoms to convert in a domino-like effect. And how do you know that you wouldn't simply be converted into a new 'anti-person' or 'strange-matter-person' without even knowing it?

interesting idea..but the"normal" matter is destroyed when the strange matter touches it. I already know some strange people.though.

@ogb
So how many people have been killed by strangelets in the past say 1000 years?

@sonhouse said
@ogb
So how many people have been killed by strangelets in the past say 1000 years?

zero

@ogb
Okay, so just in our galaxy alone we have millions of neutron stars and black holes that could be spewing out zillions of these strangelet particles in all directions, yet no person, animal or vegetable has yet been converted. This means that these strangelets are either blocked by the magnetic fields, or by our atmosphere, or they simply destroy a single atom which hardly gets noticed, -- or any combination of the above.

So we might merely be seeing a mouse dressed as a tiger.

@bunnyknight said
@ogb

So we might merely be seeing a mouse dressed as a tiger.

The Strangelets take time to reach us. I don't know if we are protected or not. But if tomorrow Andromeda isn't there , then we know the Strangelet particles are heading our way...I suppose strangelets are a lot like Anti-matter..
Some believe in the "Many Worlds" theory..which I hope is right....

@ogb
So the idea of strangelets is just hypothesizing at this time right?

@sonhouse said
@ogb
So the idea of strangelets is just hypothesizing at this time right?

yes from astro-physicists who study Neutron stars...many people are worried about high speed colliders creating the Strangelet particles..

@ogb said
The Strangelets take time to reach us. I don't know if we are protected or not. But if tomorrow Andromeda isn't there , then we know the Strangelet particles are heading our way...I suppose strangelets are a lot like Anti-matter..
Some believe in the "Many Worlds" theory..which I hope is right....

A particle that converts an atom to a different form is much different from an anti-matter particle that produces pure energy when touching matter. I assume these strangelets and strange-matter is something quite different.

On the other hand, what if they are, let's say, anti-protons, in which case they would wipe-out a proton in a normal atom and suddenly your element is changed, causing unpredictable chaos.