what is an anti-matter ?

Answer 1

In particle physics, antimatter extends the concept of the antiparticle to matter, wherein if a particle and its antiparticle come into contact with each other, the two annihilate —that is, they may both be converted into other particles with equal energy in accordance with Einstein's equation E = mc2. This gives rise to high-energy photons (gamma rays) or other particle–antiparticle pairs. The resulting particles are endowed with an amount of kinetic energy equal to the difference between the rest mass of the products of the annihilation and the rest mass of the original particle-antiparticle pair, which is often quite large.

Antimatter is not found naturally on Earth, except very briefly and in vanishingly small quantities (as the result of radioactive decay or cosmic rays). This is because antimatter which comes to exist on Earth outside the confines of a suitably equipped physics laboratory would inevitably come into contact with the ordinary matter that Earth is made of, and be annihilated. Antiparticles and some stable antimatter (such as antihydrogen) can be made in minuscule amounts, but not in enough quantity to do more than test a few of its theoretical properties.

Answer 2

Anti matter are things like Positrons, antiprotons and antineutrons that are the opposite of protons, neutrons and electrons. For instance Feynman said that electrons move backwards and time and their antimatter counterpart positrons move forward. We still have ALOT to learn about antimatter. However right now we can only collect antimatter in micrograms, but if we could collect 6 grams of it safely we could design a craft that could navigate quickly and easily around our solar system. In a solar flar a couple ounces of antimatter are often left behind as a result. If matter and antimatter collides it releases a ton of energy and thats what makes a nuclear explosion so devastating. The collision of matter and antimatter is how we discover new quarks, it is how the existence of the top quark was proved. Not only is their antimatter but their are antiquarks to.

Answer 3

Nobody has been able to collect any anti-matter because we don't have an anti-matter container to hold it in, and if we did, who would be willing to hold the container? Perhaps the next anti-person?

"Anti-matter" is used to describe a number of phenomena. Particles which appear to have the opposite charge to that expected (for example electrons and positrons), but they don't actually have matter and anti-matter characteristics. When they "annihilate", their charge simply "discharges" and since they cannot exist without carrying a charge, they convert to energy. It is as if the charge they carry, "protects" their mass from converting to energy.

Anyway, I presume "anti-matter" would exhibit the opposite property to gravity if matter was brough near it. So, "anti-matter" and matter would repel eachother, so we need not fear annihilating ourselves, we could never get near enough to it!

Parallel universes are thought to be "made" of "anti-matter". They have never been proven to exist.

Answer 4

Matter which consists of antiparticles, elementary particles of ordinary matter, such as protons and electrons, but have an opposite electrical charge. For example, an antiproton has a negative charge while a proton has a positive charge. When a particle of matter and a particle of antimatter come into contact with each other they are destroyed, releasing energy.

Answer 5

Each particle has an "anti" particle which, when brought into contact with its counterpart, annhiliates both and produces a huge amount of energy. Matter-anti-matter reactions have been compared to nuclear fusion, "as a nuclear bomb is to a kitchen match".

Neutron? Anti-neutron.
Electron? Anti-electron.
etc.

In our region of the universe, anti-matter is rather rare (it mostly shows up in high-energy particle accelerators). However, we don't really know if distant galaxies are composed of matter or anti-matter.

Answer 6

The theoretical opposite of matter.

eg. 2 anti-matter particles and 2 matter particles = nothing

Answer 7

Some particles have opposites. For example the antimatter opposite of an electron is a positron. When a particle and an it's antimatter opposite collide, they annihilate each other and release electromagnetic energy.

Answer 8

Opposite to. matter.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>EDIT<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
matter consisting of elementary particles of those
making up normal matter

Answer 9

antimatter

–noun Physics. matter composed only of antiparticles, esp. antiprotons, antineutrons, and positrons.

Answer 10

opposite of matter..