Monday, 20 February 2012

Scientific Lesson

So the other day, I was reading Angels and Demons (brilliant read!) and I came across the concept of antimatter.
I didn't understand this concept so, I approached the all knowing source of knowledge-the Internet.
For anyone else who may be interested, here is a definition of antimatter:

Think of when you are playing with play dough. you flatten it all, find a cookie cutter, and press it down, and get a star. But when you pick it up, you get the outline of the star (the negative) left in the play dough.

Albert Einstein discovered something very important. Matter is just a very concentrated form of energy.
so, if you had a LOT of energy, and concentrated it in a very pressured environment, you would end up with matter, and its negative space-Antimatter.
This means that when the electrons, protons and neutrons which make our world were created, a lot of their twins (positrons, anti protons and anti neutrons) were also made. So, where are they? Where did they go? Did they become an antiworld?

Paul Dirac thought some more about antiparticles. He wondered, if protons, electrons and neutrons stick together to make atoms, and atoms stick together to make everything around us, what we call matter…..

Then what about positrons (electrons antimatter), antiprotons and antineutrons? Do they stick together to make antiatoms? Are antiatoms the building bricks of antimatter? (antistrawberries, antistars, antiyou?!) Paul certainly thought so, and modern-day physicists agree with him. But thinking something is possible doesn't mean it's necessarily true…
When antimatter and matter meet, they annihilate and you are left with a puff of energy. But where did it GO?

About the possibility of antimatter in space (antistars or antigalaxies), theorist have reasons to believe that the Universe is all made of matter. But we are not 100% sure, and that's way there are experiments, which are going to look for it.



Yes, I am aware that I have left you with more questions than answers, but please comment and share your thoughts.

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