Imagine that you walk down the street and see a person who looks exactly like you. It’s your twin made out of antimatter. Do you shake their hand or run away?
The existence of antimatter has been predicted since 1928 by the British scientist Paul Dirac. While he was creating a new equation for the electron, he discovered that the same equation showed the possibility of electrons having positive energy as well as negative energy, just as x² = 4 can have two solutions: 2 and -2. Therefore, Dirac came to the conclusion that for every particle, there existed a corresponding antiparticle that matched the particle but had the opposite charge (antiprotons, antineutrons, and antielectrons).
In 1932, while studying showers of cosmic particles in a cloud chamber, Carl Anderson discovered a particle that was positively charged and had a similar mass to our well-known electron. That particle was the very first proof of the existence of the antiparticles that Paul Dirac predicted, and it was called a "positron.”.
So we can describe antimatter as a form of ordinary matter that has all of its quantum properties defined by anti-particles (for example, for every electron, there should be an antielectron or a positron).
Scientists are trying to discover the similarities and differences between matter and antimatter. So one of the biggest questions was: How does antimatter react to gravity? If the antimatter would have rose in response to gravity instead of falling, then everything that we know about physics would have shuddered. But, in 2023, the most recent studies show that antimatter reacts just as matter does. Even though it’s a scientific end, it still opens the possibility of new experiments, like: Does it fall at the same speed?
Antimatter has existed since the universe began. Both matter and antimatter were created in equal amounts in the Big Bang, but while matter is everywhere, in literally every corner of our universe, antimatter is almost impossible to find. The thing is that when matter and antimatter come into contact, they annihilate each other, leaving behind pure energy. So, the mystery that all scientists are trying to solve is: how did our universe come to be matter-dominated if the two of them were created in equal amounts? Why didn’t they just cancel each other out?
There is no known way, given the particles and their interactions in the universe, to make more matter than antimatter. But at the same time, everything is made out of matter and not antimatter.
Even though the mystery of antimatter is still trying to be solved, antimatter is closer to us than we think. Besides the fact that it can be created and that ordinary bananas produce antimatter, releasing one positron—the antimatter equivalent of an electron—about every 75 minutes, small amounts of antimatter constantly rain down on the Earth in the form of cosmic rays, energetic particles from space.
It can also be used in the medical field. Antiprotons are used to treat some types of cancer.
The most important thing is that antimatter is not just something you see in science fiction. The Star Track’s starship Enterprise uses matter-antimatter annihilation propulsion for faster-than-light travel, and the beautiful thing is that antimatter has been theorized for possible use as a powerful and efficient fuel for interstellar travel or travel between stars.
Bibliography:
Comments