Asked by tibi29 to Daniel, Anna on 27 Jun 2014.
Keywords: antimatter, matter, reaction
very challenging questions this morning!
Yes, antimatter does exist, and yes, it reacts with matter, and we actually take advantage of these kind of reactions for medical purposes (for example the PET exam, to visualize things happening inside the body).
We call antimatter all those particles that have the same mass of our “standard” particles like protons, electrons, but have the opposite electrical charge. When an anti-particle encounters a normal matter particle, this lead to the so called “annihilation” of both (they sort of destroy each other), with consequent emission of high-energy photons, neutrinos, and other particle–antiparticle pairs. This can happen, for example, even in our atmosphere, due to the presence of cosmic rays!
I think this is more or less what I know about antimatter. There is surely much more, but you should better ask to a particle physicist! 😉
Physicists say that antimatter exists and that it does interact with matter. They want to know more about how it works and how it interacts with matter. Unfortunately, I don’t know more about it as it is way out of my study area. Now, I am interested to learn more. Thanks for the question.
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