Is there such a thing as Antimatter?

Question

I have been reading a book called Angels and Demons and there is a part where a scientist has just recetly discoverd "Antimatter". It is highly explosive if it comes in contact with matter ( everything on earth is made of matter). It says that one gram or something can light up New York for a whole week and produces no radiation, no pollution. So is there really such a thing called Anitmatter, if there is then why haven't scientist been using it? is it because it is highly explosive?

Answer 1

Yes there is such thing. It is the most valuable substance attainable by humans. It is used in experiments, but the cost is enourmous as it's difficult to produce. They use it right down the street from where I live, at the Fermi National Accellerator Laboratory. It's where the 1st atom was smashed.

Answer 2

Antimatter, in and of it's self is not explosive, it is only when it comes in physical contact with matter that a reaction occurs. Both the matter(+) and antimatter(-) negate each other, each destroys the other leaving nothing behind. Yes, this reaction is violent, and while it is easy to contain matter in something there has yet to be something developed to contain antimatter, allowing limited exposure to positive matter to cause a controlled reaction within the realm of safety. Such as a nuclear reactor, which is in a sense, a controlled nuclear explosion.
If you have ever watched Star Trek, they use a matter/antimatter reactor to drive the ships warp engines, you may hear them talk about a "warp core containment field" from time to time. In theory, this is a force field used to contain and control a matter/antimatter reaction. And both warp drive and antimatter reactors are real theory's, scientists just have not been able to develop the technologies necessary for these things let alone prove the theory's.

Answer 3

Yes, there is such a thing as antimatter. One definition is if we look at a particle with the following characteristics: xx amount of mass, negative charge, spin 1/2, its anti partical pair would have these characteristics: xx amount of matter, positive charge, spin 1/2.
If the above matter is about 2000 times less that the proton, then we are talking about the electron, which is negatively charged. Its anti partical pair is called the positron.

Answer 4

Yes -- antimatter consist of particles that have the opposite charge of regular matter: The positron is the antimatter equivalent of the electron for example.

Drawbacks: they require tremendous amount of energy to produce (in like cyclotrons or linear accelarators and such), large amounts have never been produced. They have only been observed experimentally (like Wilson Cloud Chamber) and react instantly with matter.

Answer 5

yes and it is this way becuz of symetry and super symmetry
if it had not been for the imbalance of particles during the big bang, we would not b here
also, an antinuetrino is part of beta decay
scientists do study it. in fact im workin for a scientist looking for super symmetry and gravitrons
and fyi, the universe is made up of mostly dark matter and that is more powerful than antimatter, so y not use that?
same reason, we have no real idea of locating it yet or how to locate it

Answer 6

I don't think there is any such thing as anti-matter or dark matter. It certainly has never been "discovered" or proven. It's simply a theory scientists have come up with to explain why the matter in the universe isn't evenly distributed. If the Big Bang theory were true, the matter in the universe would not be in clumps called galaxies. Theories such as antimatter and black holes are meant to salvage the Big Bang while still explaining why there is so much missing matter in the universe.

Answer 7

its a chance. it became defined to me once yet i have been given slightly wondered. Apparantly some thing to do with the existence of antiparticles so could have an anti atom that is composed of a certainly charged electron and negatively charged proton (as antagonistic to negatively charged electron and efficient proton as they really exist). i do not imagine there is any genuine info of its existence. extra technological awareness fiction which could doubtlessly be actual

Answer 8

yes. scientists said they can obtain small amount of it but only for a short period of time because it immediately reacts with any matter it comes in contact with and gets neutralized.

Answer 9

Yes, but it doesn't last on Earth or in an atmosphere.

You need to keep it in a magnetic bottle. Not easy & pretty expensive.

Answer 10

If there is matter then there must be an absence of matter.That is a logical conclusion or deduction. Where there is an absence of matter it is what is called anti-matter. It is not a space or time it is the opposite of space and time, as we understand it.