What exactly would Antimatter be? Do you really think it's in some ultimate, distant realm of the universe? Or does it not even exist? Just curious on your opinions of antimatter..
2006-11-08 15:16:58 · 5 answers · asked by Kiara 5 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Astronomy & Space
Antimatter refers to the negative field excitations of fermions. Antimatter particles certainly exist---they are made in laboratory experiments all the time. Anti-electrons (positrons) are even used in medicine, in medical diagnostics. Soon after the big bang, there were near-equal amounts of matter and anti-matter. It is not known why there was a small excess of matter---that may simply be chance. Some small amount of antimatter exists in the Galaxy, as shown by detection of the 511 KeV positron-electron annihilation line by gamma-ray telescopes.
There may well be regions of the Universe, far outside our event horizon, that are predominantly made of antimatter. It is unlikely that anything inside our event horizon (that is, anything within 20 billion lightyears of us) would ever come in contact with such regions, even in the indefinite future.
2006-11-09 02:30:49 · answer #1 · answered by cosmo 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Antimatter does, in fact, exist. It's just extremely rare. It's not that exotic. All it means is that unlike regular matter (which has atoms consisting of a positively charged nucleus circled by negatively charged electrons), antimatter has a negatively charged nucleus encircled by positively charged positrons. It can be made in a laboratory. It does annihilate when it comes into contact with regular matter. The real mystery is why our universe is so densely populated with regular matter and so sparsely populated with antimatter (as far as we can tell).
2006-11-09 00:44:31 · answer #2 · answered by crapweasel 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Antimatter definitely exists. It has been created in particle accelerators. Many quantum physicists believe that antimatter may be matter moving backward in time.
According to quantum physics, the known laws of physics are equally applicable in both directions of time (super symmetry). Furthermore, it is believed that time itself may have been created as a result of cosmic forces at time zero and that time may, actually, have "quanta" (a fundamental element of measurement similar to a string in string theory).
2006-11-09 00:56:12 · answer #3 · answered by Scarp 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
antimatter does not exist in any known place at the moment, but it would cancel out any matter that it came in contact with
2006-11-08 23:18:38 · answer #4 · answered by L 4 · 0⤊ 1⤋
the place where Antimatter actually is' is not known but it is said that it exists bu i don't believe it.
2006-11-08 23:22:32 · answer #5 · answered by THE KING 2 · 0⤊ 1⤋