Science
Antimatter Bomb Would Cost 1.5 Quadrillion Dollars Per Megaton Yield
Lex Fridman Podcast
#497 – Biggest Mysteries in Physics: Antimatter, Dark Energy & ToE – Don Lincoln
"To do enough for a 1-megaton antimatter bomb, on the order of 25 grams, will cost about $1.5 quadrillion. Compared to current best estimates how much it takes to produce a 1-megaton nuclear warhead, $10 to $50 million in the United States."
Based on NASA cost estimates of $62-63 trillion per gram of antihydrogen and Fermilab production rates, Lincoln calculates an antimatter weapon would cost 30 million times more than nuclear equivalents. Fermilab's accelerator produced one nanogram per year by colliding 100,000 protons to yield a single antiproton. While antimatter propulsion for interstellar travel remains theoretically possible, the engineering and containment challenges far exceed current capabilities.
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Lex Fridman Podcast