ANTIMATTER

INTRODUCTION
From previous science studies, you should be aware that matter is defined as being anything
that takes up space and has mass. What, then, is antimatter? Is it something that does not
take up space or does not have a mass? No, but antimatter does have opposing (anti-)
properties to our existing and well-known atomic particles, including protons, neutrons,
and electrons.
The term antimatter has been used for many decades, including the fictional use of
antimatter as a fuel for spacecraft in many science fiction movies. Antimatter is moving out
of the world of fiction, and some scientists are predicting that antimatter may well be the fuel
for deep space exploration. What is antimatter? Where do we find it? How could it be used as
a fuel for spacecraft and deep space probes?
To answer some of these questions, we look to the work of the scientist Paul Adrien Maurice
Dirac (1902-84), who, while developing a mathematical description of electrons in 1930,
predicted that the electron must have an "antiparticle." An antiparticle for the electron would
have an identical mass as the electron but a positive electric charge (an electron has a
negative charge). In 1932 Dirac's theoretical work was confirmed when the scientist Carl
Anderson observed and described the positron. The positron is the antiparticle to the
electron. This important discovery led scientists to speculate about the existence of further
antiparticles. In 1955 the antiproton, or negatively charged proton (a proton has a positive
charge), was discovered. This finding was soon followed by the discovery of the antineutron,
which, although it has no charge (neutrons are electrically neutral), has a magnetic
moment opposite that of a neutron.
The next chapter in the antimatter story was the development of antinuclei. Normal nuclei
are made of protons and neutrons that "stick together," bound by nuclear forces. In 1965 the
first antinuclei were developed when an antiproton and antineutron were stuck together; the
product was named antideuteron. The well-known nucleus called the deuteron (the nucleus
of deuterium, an isotope of hydrogen) is made of a single proton and a single neutron. The
evidence that supported the symmetry of matter as predicted by Dirac was further
confirmed.
Atoms consist of nuclei with outer shells of electrons. One of the later advances in the
antimatter story was made in 1995, when an antiproton was joined with a positron to form
an anti-atom. This anti-atom was the opposite of normal hydrogen (consisting of one proton
with one electron in its electron cloud) and consisted of a nucleus of one antiproton with a
single positron. It was a great moment in science and marked the development of
antihydrogen. It is thought that antihydrogen could be used as a building block for the
production of other anti-atom particles. The work with these antiparticles is emerging as one
of the most fascinating and challenging areas of inquiry for physicists.
Matter and antimatter cannot exist in close proximity. They annihilate each other, and in the
process produce large amounts of energy when their masses are converted to energy as
described by Einstein's equation E = mc2. The energy production of the matter-antimatter
combination is much greater than conventional rocket fuels; thus what has previously been
seen as only science fiction could possibly be the fuel of the future. Antimatter does not have
potential only as a fuel. The remarkable symmetry of matter and antimatter is of great
interest to scientists, some of whom believe that when the universe was created, there were
almost equal amounts of matter and antimatter. The question of what has happened to this

antimatter is still being investigated by scientists and may well be fundamental to our
understanding of how the universe was created.

NARRATION
This is a representation of an ordinary atom made up of a proton, with a positive electrical
charge; electrons, with negative charges; and a neutron, with no charge, a neutral particle.
Antimatter is a substance composed of atomic particles that have the same mass as electrons,
protons, or neutrons found in ordinary matter. However, each of the particles is of the
opposite charge of its normal material counterpart.
The component particles of antimatter are called positrons, antiprotons, and antineutrons.
Although antineutrons are neutral, they have a magnetic moment opposite in sign to that of
the neutron. These three antiparticles make up anti-atoms, which in turn make up
antimatter.
The idea of antimatter is not an easy one to grasp for most people. The first mention of
antimatter in scientific literature came in 1930 in the work of the physicist Paul Adrien
Maurice Dirac. His work on the energy states of the electron led him to predict the existence
of the positron, a particle identical in every respect to the electron, except that it has a
positive charge instead of a negative one. Such a particle was subsequently produced in
laboratory experiments.
Antimatter, if it is not confined in special traps to isolate it, has an extremely short life, on
the order of billionths of a second before it comes into contact with ordinary matter and is
annihilated. Matter and antimatter eliminate each other on contact, with a complete release
of the energy held in both.
Many attempts in science have been made to study the relevance of antimatter in
cosmological problems because a theoretical understanding of antimatter is relevant to
understanding how the universe was created and is constituted.
So far, the most common understanding of antimatter comes not from science but from
science fiction, which has popularized the idea of using antimatter to propel spaceships.

GLOSSARY
annihilation
the spontaneous conversion of a particle and its corresponding antiparticle into energy (as
radiation). For example, the electron and positron would annihilate each other to produce
gamma rays.
anti-atom
an atom made from three kinds of antiparticles. The nucleus of an anti-atom is made up of
antiprotons and antineutrons surrounded by positrons.
antimatter
matter that is made up of antiparticles.
antineutron
the antiparticle of the neutron with a magnetic moment opposite in sign to that of the

neutron.
antinuclei
the core of anti-atoms consisting of antiprotons and antineutrons stuck together
antiproton
the antiparticle of the proton that is identical to the proton but with a negative electric
charge.
atom
the smallest particle of an element that has the properties of that element and takes part in
chemical reactions.
electron
the lightest stable subatomic particle known. It carries a negative charge that is considered
the basic charge of electricity.
isotopes
different forms of the same element. Isotopes have the same number of protons (represented
by the atomic number) of an element but different numbers of neutrons.
magnetic moment
a measure of the ability of a subatomic particle to turn itself to alignment with a magnetic
field. Assigned a value of + or - to differentiate between the opposite directions of the
moment.
matter
any substance that has mass and takes up space.
neutron
a subatomic particle found in most atoms (except ordinary hydrogen atoms). It has no
electric charge and has a mass only slightly larger than the proton. It is located within the
nucleus of an atom.
positron
the antiparticle of an electron that is identical to the electron but has a positive electric
charge.
protons
a subatomic particle found in all atoms. It has a positive electric charge and is located within
the nucleus of an atom.