ANTI MATTER

What is antimatter?
Matter contains particles (electrons, protons etc). Antimatter contains antiparticles (antielectrons, antiprotons etc).

 An antielectron (also called "positron") and an antiproton could form an antih dro!en atom in the same "a that an electron and a proton form a normal matter h dro!en atom.

History
The modern theor of antimatter #e!ins in $%&', "ith a paper # (aul )irac. )irac reali*ed his +ersion of the ,chr-din!er "a+e e.uation for electrons "as predictin! the possi#ilit of antielectrons. These antielectrons "ere disco+ered # /arl ). Anderson in $%0& and named positrons.

Annihilation

Annihilation is the process that occurs "hen a su#atomic particle collides "ith its respecti+e antiparticle. E1 . (ositron 2 electron 3 ener!

 A 4e nman dia!ram of a positron and an electron annihilatin! into a photon (!amma ra s).

Big bang
)urin! #i! #an! matter and antimatter "as created in e.ual proportion. 5ut due to un6no"n reasons matter o+ertoo6 antimatter and "hat7s left is mostl matter8 This is called #ar on as mmetr . This is one amon! the !reatest unsol+ed pro#lems in ph sics.

,tora!e
Antimatter cannot #e stored in a container made of ordinar matter #ecause antimatter reacts "ith an matter it touches, annihilatin! itself and an e.ual amount of the container. Antimatter that is composed of char!ed particles can #e contained # a com#ination of an electric field and a ma!netic field in a de+ice 6no"n as a (ennin! trap.

(ennin! trap

9ses

Medical : Antimatter:matter reactions ha+e practical applications in medical ima!in!, such as positron emission tomo!raph ((ET).

POSITRON EMISSION TOMOGRAPHY (PET

9ses
4uel ; The reaction of $ 6! of antimatter "ith $ 6! of matter "ould produce $.'<$=$> ? ($'= peta@oules) of ener! or the rou!h e.ui+alent of A0 me!atons of TNT 888

)isad+anta!es
/ost ; To produce $ !ram of antimatter, /ERN "ould need to spend $== .uadrillion dollars and run the antimatter factor for $== #illion ears.

 Bne researcher of the /ERN la#oratories, "hich produces antimatter re!ularl , said;

If we could assemble all of the antimatter we've ever made at CERN and annihilate it with matter, we would have enough energy to light a single electric light bulb for a few minutes.