Have you ever heard about antimatter?
By João Pinheiro
Be careful with antimatter! Never cross with a “antiyou” and avoid disappearing forever. Antimatter, as you might imagine, is the opposite of normal matter, the used and seen by us daily. This can also disappear when antimatter meets their corresponding matter [?]. See better below.
Antimatter, in Particle Physics and Quantum Chemical, is an extension of the concept of antiparticle matter, whereby antimatter is composed of antiparticle the same way as normal matter is composed of particles.
What is antimatter?
It is the reverse of what is the matter. It is composed of antiparticles, which have the same characteristic of the particles (mass and spin), but with opposite electrical charge. This is the case of the positron, also known as antielectron, which has a positive charge. Or antiproton, which, unlike the proton, is negative.
The concept of antimatter was proposed by the British physicist Paul Dirac in 1928. He reviewed the Einstein equation, considering that the mass could also be negative. Thus, the formula would be: E = ±mc². Based on the theory, the scientific community began to study the issue further and discovered a potent source of energy with 100% success.
Today, the big challenge is to produce it in large quantities, as it is not found on Earth.
Antiparticles
These antiparticles are literally mirror images of normal matter. Each antiparticle has the same mass as its corresponding particle, but the electric charges are reversed. Here are some findings about antimatter in the twentieth century:
Positron >>> are electrons with a positive charge rather than negative. Discovered by Carl Anderson in 1932, positrons were the first evidence that antimatter exists.
Antiproton >>> are protons have a negative charge rather than the normal positive charge, in 1955, researchers at Berkeley Bevatron produced an antiproton.
“Antiatoms” >>> are formed by pairing positrons and antiprotons, first created by scientists at CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research, nine atoms of antihydrogen were created, each lasting just 40 nanoseconds, whereas in 1998, CERN researchers were pushing the production of anti-hydrogen atoms up to 2,000/hr.
When antimatter comes into contact with normal matter, these particles equal but opposite, collide to produce an explosion emitting pure radiation that emanates from the point of the explosion at the speed of light. Both particles that created the explosion are completely annihilated, leaving behind other subatomic particles.
The explosion that occurs when antimatter and matter interact, turns the whole mass of both objects into energy. Scientists believe that this energy is more powerful than any that might be generated by other methods of propulsion.
Engine moved by matter-antimatter
NASA is possibly only a few decades to develop an antimatter spacecraft that would cut fuel costs for a fraction of what they cost now. In October 2000, NASA scientists announced fledgling an antimatter-powered engine that could generate a huge boost with small amounts of antimatter fuel.
The amount of antimatter needed to supply the engine for a one-year trip to Mars could be as small as a millionth of a gram, according to a report from that month’s issue of the Journal of Propulsion and Power.
The matter-antimatter propulsion will be more efficient propulsion ever developed, because 100% of the mass of matter and antimatter is converted into energy. When matter and antimatter collide, the energy released by their annihilation is about 10 billion times greater than the chemical energy released by the combustion of hydrogen and carbon, the kind used by the space shuttle.
Matter-antimatter reactions are 1,000 times more powerful than nuclear fission produced in nuclear power plants and 300 times more powerful than nuclear fusion energy. Therefore, matter-antimatter engines have the potential to take us further on less fuel. The problem is to create and store antimatter.
Approximately 10g of antiprotons would be enough fuel to send a manned spacecraft to Mars in a month. Currently, it takes almost a year for an unmanned spacecraft to reach Mars. In 1996, the Mars Global Surveyor took 11 months to reach Mars.
Scientists believe that the speed of a spacecraft powered by matter-antimatter would allow the man to go where no other has gone before in space. It would be possible to travel to Jupiter and even beyond the heliopause, the point at which the Sun’s radiation ends. But it will take a long time until the astronauts ask for the immediate boost the spacecraft at warp speed.
Recent discoveries can change the physics
Recent studies conducted at Fermilab, in the United States, and by LHCb, in Europe, found an event that can be the key to the answer to this question. According to the physical both lab, certain particles decay - that is, become other particles - in proportions different from their counterparts.
According to the BBC, studies conducted both Fermilab and by LHCb - one of the particle detectors of the LHC - tried to better understand how subatomic particles called D-mesons saw other over time.
The D-mesons are composed of smaller particles known as quarks charm, which can turn into two other particles, kaons and pions. Hitherto, our knowledge about the physics stated that the decay of these particles should be substantially the same as that of the respective anti-particles with a variation of no more than 0.1%.
However, the LHCb experiment conducted showed that this decay is much more uneven, reaching a difference of 0.8% between particle and antiparticle. Fermilab also confirmed similar results, finding a difference of 0.62% between the two decays.
In an interview with British news network, the scientists admitted being surprised by this finding, since the result is very unusual. To make everything more awesome, the two experiments reached the same result using different methods and environments, which should give further credibility to the research.
According to Dr Tara Shears, who worked on the LHCb experiment, it is unclear whether these findings will lead to new physics or just guide humanity to a better understanding of the Standard Model, followed by professionals in this area. Anyway, it seems clear that the collected data deserve more attention.
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Source: Wikipedia; How Stuff Works [Brazil]; Mega Curioso [http://megacurioso.com.br]
