Definitions:
Antimatter: Matter that consists of particles with opposite charges but equal mass. For example, antihydrogen is composed of the negatively charged antiparticle counterpart of a proton, the antiproton, and the positively charged antiparticle counterpart of an electron, the positron.
Absolute Zero: The point where all molecular motion stops and when matter cannot get any colder. This is also defined as 0 kelvins and -273° Celsius.
Summary:
Antimatter, which was discovered by physicist Paul Dirac in 1931, causes annihilation and releases energy the instant it comes in contact with normal matter. It is suggested that equal amounts of matter and antimatter were formed during the big bang. However, why antimatter is not as common as matter today is a question that has baffled scientists. A recent experiment at CERN, called ALPHA, cooled 40,000 antiprotons to a temperature of 40 kelvins, and pushed them into a cluster of several millions of cooled positrons to form antihydrogen particles. After using strong magnetic fields, only 38 of these antihydrogen atoms were captured for a sixth of a second before they annihilated. This experiment has prevented antihydrogen from self-destruction for a much longer time than ever before, providing hope to scientists who want to learn more about antihydrogen.
Discussion:
I decided to pick this article for my blog because I have always been fascinated with mysterious and vague topics regarding science, such as antimatter. Studying topics that are still relatively unclear to human beings may lead to significant discoveries that lead to inventions that are currently thought of as fictitious. This is another reason why I wanted to study about antimatter, to provide me ideas of possible future inventions. My opinions about future experiments are that scientists could keep the antihydrogen particles cooler so that they have a less tendency to combine with normal hydrogen and annihilate, providing more time for observations and measurements. I believe that as the study of antimatter expands, scientists will quickly be able to understand the properties of antimatter and find more uses of this mysterious type of matter.Questions:
Why do scientists only attempt to form antihydrogen and not antihelium, antilithium…etc.?
How long does antimatter have to stay in order for scientists to be able to observe them?
Sources:
Witze, Alexandra. “Antimatter, here to stay.” Science News. Society for Science & the Public, 17 Nov. 2010. Web. 18 Nov. 2010. <http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/65693/title/Antimatter,_here_to_stay>.
