Antimatter made international news recently. Many would envisage an evil villain pursuing this science fiction style substance whilst stroking a cat, but what is antimatter? And why is it currently big news?
Well very intelligent people over at CERN, have isolated antimatter atoms. 38 of them to be precise, and all for a fraction of a second. This is groundbreaking stuff which could aid in better understanding our universe and the laws that govern it. But what is antimatter?
Antimatter is the opposite of matter. Simples. If one to consider anything tangible to be made of atoms... these atoms can then be broken down into smaller moieties such as protons and electrons and so on. This is matter. Equally, through analysis of Schrödinger’s equation (new post coming soon), there should be the presence of an opposite particle. A bit like Yin and Yang or Ant and Dec. So for a positively charged proton (matter) there should be a negatively charged proton (antimatter) equally, a negatively charged electrons antimatter counterpart is the positron, a positively charged species. “What is the significance of this” I hear you cry in unison? When antimatter and matter are present together they collide and annihilate. This releases high energy gamma rays – the ones sought by evil villains! “Hang on” I can hear you say, “If antimatter and matter collide releasing loads of radiation, why do I not have one eye and six legs?” (Apologies to any hexapedal-cyclops offended) Well there is a complete imbalance in matter and antimatter originating in the imbalance from the big bang. Antimatter is still present throughout the universe but in tiny quantities. This imbalance is known as baryon asymmetry and a bit of a mystery in physics.
Well very intelligent people over at CERN, have isolated antimatter atoms. 38 of them to be precise, and all for a fraction of a second. This is groundbreaking stuff which could aid in better understanding our universe and the laws that govern it. But what is antimatter?
Antimatter is the opposite of matter. Simples. If one to consider anything tangible to be made of atoms... these atoms can then be broken down into smaller moieties such as protons and electrons and so on. This is matter. Equally, through analysis of Schrödinger’s equation (new post coming soon), there should be the presence of an opposite particle. A bit like Yin and Yang or Ant and Dec. So for a positively charged proton (matter) there should be a negatively charged proton (antimatter) equally, a negatively charged electrons antimatter counterpart is the positron, a positively charged species. “What is the significance of this” I hear you cry in unison? When antimatter and matter are present together they collide and annihilate. This releases high energy gamma rays – the ones sought by evil villains! “Hang on” I can hear you say, “If antimatter and matter collide releasing loads of radiation, why do I not have one eye and six legs?” (Apologies to any hexapedal-cyclops offended) Well there is a complete imbalance in matter and antimatter originating in the imbalance from the big bang. Antimatter is still present throughout the universe but in tiny quantities. This imbalance is known as baryon asymmetry and a bit of a mystery in physics.
The isolation of 38 antihydrogen particles at CERN could help to provide solutions to many questions in physics. Antimatter has a current application in PET scanning (Positron emission tomography) this is a type of medical imaging. As well as this application, antimatter may provide future technologies in fuel production through harnessing the energy produced from annihilation. Exciting stuff!
So next time you are in a pub quiz and the antimatter round comes up, consider yourself well prepared. Alternatively you could get totally annihilated.
So next time you are in a pub quiz and the antimatter round comes up, consider yourself well prepared. Alternatively you could get totally annihilated.
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