If antimatter annihilated matter then wouldn't we eventually have no matter at all?

Question

...or no antimatter at all? Have we found antimatter? If so, how? Considering it would not last?

Answer 1

No, it turns out that our Universe contains a very small asymmetry called CPT Violation (Charge, Parity and Time Violation). This violation allows a small amount of matter to survive without getting annihilated by anti-matter. It's about 1 matter particle per billion that survives via this asymmetry process, but apparently that's enough matter to create all the galaxies, stars, and planets we now see in the Universe.

Anti-matter was first discovered in 1932 by Carl D. Anderson. and was predicted by Dirac in 1927. Nowaways, anti-matter are routinely crated in high energy particle accelerators, and we can also find them as products of radioactive decay.

Answer 2

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.

There is considerable speculation both in science and science fiction as to why the observable universe is apparently almost entirely matter, whether other places are almost entirely antimatter instead, and what might be possible if antimatter could be harnessed, but at this time the apparent asymmetry of matter and antimatter in the visible universe is one of the great unsolved problems in physics. Possible processes by which it came about are explored in more detail under baryogenesis.

Answer 3

There seems to be a common misconception regarding what "antimatter" actually is.

It is NOT the opposite to matter in a gravitational sense, it is simply the label given to charged particles which carry the opposite charge to what one expects. For example, positrons are positively charged particles with the same mass as electrons.

Yes, antimatter has been observed for a very short time during nuclear reactions.

That is to say, positrons are formed and "live" only a short time until they encounter an electron, whereupon the charge on the electron (negative) and the charge on the positron (positive) neutralise eachother, and once that happens, it seems that the mass associated with the positron and the mass associated with the electron are no longer stable, so they turn into energy!

No need to panic though. The electron is a stable form of matter and pervades the known universe, wheras positrons don't.

By the way, there are also negative "protons" which behave in a similar manner when they encounter a proton, however the amount of energy released is much larger since the mass of the proton is so much larger than the mass of the electron.

Hope this helps.

Answer 4

antimatter has been found. it is true that If antimatter annihilated matter, then wouldn't we eventually have no matter at all.

Answer 5

When antimatter "annihilates" matter - it is simply converted to pure energy.

The important thing here is to remember that energy and matter are the same entity, in a different form......E=MC2

Just as matter can be transformed into energy, the energy can also be transformed into matter. The total mass-energy would not change.

If you get a chance, pick up the paper back "Angels & Demons" by Dan Brown - although it's a fictional novel, I guarantee you'll enjoy the anti-matter bomb plot.

Answer 6

You can't have just nothing,as nothing by itself does not exist anywhere in the universe, unless you know of some place else?

Answer 7

Its puzzled physicists for years....

Answer 8

matter cannot be destroyed....it just changes form.