mater/anti-matter annihilation?

Question

why do matter and anti-matter annihilate eachother. take for example an electron/positron pair. the only difference in the 2 is the charge. why does that mean they would be converted entirely to energy when they come in contact.

so the fact that they have different energy levels is the reason they just explode?

Russell K, dude...y did u write that? if im sitting here typing **** about positrons i damn sure know about about e=mc^2

Answer 1

It's not different energy levels. But it requires a much deeper understanding of quarks and quantum mechanics than I have.

Electron-positron annihilation sometimes begins with these two particles forming an 'atom' called a positronium.

Annihilation into a single photon is only one possible outcome. Others depend on the kinetic energies of the pair.

Answer 2

I am not sure that anyone can give a nonmathematical answer for why corresponding matter and antimatter particles interact and produce a pair of energetic photons (gamma rays) instead, but they do.

One theory goes that the entire universe is populated with electrons (or positrons) and that sensible electon-positron pairs are excess ones and corresponding holes in the universe. It takes energy to make these particle-antiparticle pairs and that when they come together, the particle simply fills up the hole corresponding to the antiparticle. I don't know if this theory is still current or what modifications have since been made in it in the fifty years or so since it was first put forward.

Because electrons and positrons have opposite electrical charges, they will attract each other electrostatically, which enhances their tendency to interact when they are near each other. Electrons are also very abundant in ordinary matter, so a positron will normally encounter an electron and interact with it very soon after being created. Electrons and positrons are the lightest known subatomic particles with a charge and rest mass and produce a pair of gamma rays with energy of 511 kilo-electron volts (keV) which works out to a wavelength of 2.43 picometers.

Presumably neutrinos and antineutrinos would also annihilate each other when they interact, but these particles have no electrical charge and little or no rest mass. These particles don't often interact with other particles, including their mirror antiparticles. Neutrino-antineutrino interactions would therefore be rare and hard to detect even if these particles are relatively abundant.

Answer 3

They each have their own energy levels. Remember that energy can neither be created nor destroyed but only converted. Therefore when they interact they annihilate each other and the energy levels are converted into another form

Answer 4

If you think about it, there is nothing in the universe except energy (matter is just another form of energy). We can only detect energy as it affects matter; if there were no matter, energy would be meaningless and undetectable. Einstein showed that matter can be converted to energy and vice versa, but where did all this energy come from?

Answer 5

No. The antimatter/count annihilation did no longer launch any further power than that which existed everywhere interior the Universe on the time. It substitute into that power that created the antimatter and count interior the 1st place.

Answer 6

the sad part is that 98% of Y!A ppl don't know what that meant (: