Table of Contents
What are the properties of antimatter?
antimatter, substance composed of subatomic particles that have the mass, electric charge, and magnetic moment of the electrons, protons, and neutrons of ordinary matter but for which the electric charge and magnetic moment are opposite in sign.
What mass does antimatter have?
Antimatter does not have negative mass. In our universe, there is no such thing as negative mass. Mass only comes in positive form. In contrast, electric charge can be positive or negative.
Is antimatter affected by gravity?
The gravitational interaction of antimatter with matter or antimatter has not been conclusively observed by physicists. Most methods for the creation of antimatter (specifically antihydrogen) result in high-energy particles and atoms of high kinetic energy, which are unsuitable for gravity-related study.
Does antimatter fall up or down?
But some theories predict new, as yet unseen forces: these forces would make antimatter fall differently than matter. But in these theories, antimatter always falls slightly faster than matter; antimatter never falls up.
Do matter and antimatter repel each other?
As Villata explains, the current formulation of general relativity predicts that matter and antimatter are both self-attractive, yet matter and antimatter mutually repel each other.
Are there antimatter black holes?
According to our current understanding, there is no way to distinguish an antimatter black hole from a regular-matter black hole. In fact, there is no difference between an antimatter black hole and a regular-matter black hole if they have the same mass, charge, and angular-momentum.
What is the difference between matter and antimatter?
Antimatter and matter particles have the same mass but differ in properties such as electric charge and spin. The Standard Model predicts that gravity should have the same effect on matter and antimatter; however, this has yet to be seen.
How does gravity affect matter and antimatter?
Antimatter and matter particles have the same mass but differ in properties such as electric charge and spin. The Standard Model predicts that gravity should have the same effect on matter and antimatter; however, this has yet to be seen. Experiments such as AEGIS, ALPHA and GBAR are hard at work trying to find out.
Should antimatter have annihilated all matter in the universe?
Antimatter should have annihilated all of the matter in the universe after the big bang. According to theory, the big bang should have created matter and antimatter in equal amounts. When matter and antimatter meet, they annihilate, leaving nothing but energy behind. So in principle, none of us should exist.
What is the periodic table of antimatter?
Probably the periodic table of antimatter—the anti–periodic table. Antimatter is the mirror image of the regular old matter all around us. Instead of our negatively charged electrons, there are positively charged positrons. Similarly, our positively charged protons get inverted into negative antiprotons.