Ruqayyah and Dea's amazing powerpoint about antimatter

Antimatter

By ruqayyah and bailey

The makeup of antimatter

The sub-atomic particles of antimatter have properties opposite those of normal matter; as in, the electrical charge of those particles is reversed. To better understand antimatter, one needs to know about matter. Matter is made up of atoms, which are the basic units of chemical elements. From a simple perspectove, however, atoms have particles that are known as electrons, protons and neutrons inside of them. In the heart of an atom, called the nucleus, are protons (which have a positive electrical charge) and neutrons (which have a neutral electrical charge). Electrons, which generally have a negative charge, occu[y orbits around the nucleus. In the case of antimatter, the electrical charge is reversed relative to matter. Anti-protons (called positrons) behave like electrons but have a positive charge. Anti-protons, as the name implies, are protons with a negative charge.

Where is antimatter found?

Antimatter particles are created in ultra high-speed collisions. in the first moments of the big bang, only energy existed. As the universe cooled and expanded, particles of both matter and antimatter were produced in equal amounts. Scientists are still unsure of why matter came to dominate. The big bang should have created equal amounts of matter and antimatter in the early universe. But today, everything we see on earth to the largest stellar objects is made almost entirely of matter. Comparatively, there is not much antimatter to be found. Something must have happened to the balance. One of the greatest challenges of physics is to figure out what happened to the antimatter, or why we see an asymmetry between matter and antimatter.

is antimatter a viable source?

Antimatter is the most potent fuel known to man - while it takes tons of chemical fuel to propel a human mission to Mars, just ten milligrams of antimatter would suffice. This is because when antimatter comes into contact with matter, both annihilate and prodcue pure energy. The reaction of 1kg of antimatter and 1kg of matter would produce the energy roughly equivalent to about 43 megatons of TNT. Although it seems like a potentially groundbreaking source of energy, using it poses its own complications. As it doesn't occur naturally, antimatter must be created, which in itself requires massive amounts of energy. This makes it an inefficient source of energy, as you only get back a fraction of the energy invested in creating it. Lastly, some antimatter reactions produce blasts of high energy gamma rays. They penetrate matter and break apart molecules in cells, so they're not very healthy to be around.

THANK YOU!