What is Antimatter?

Nigel Goes to Space

Join Nigel as he takes you on his journey to the stars and beyond!

Could isolated and stored anti-matter ever be used as a fuel for interplanetary or interstellar travel?

The Universe consists almost entirely of ordinary matter, and that’s a puzzle for cosmologists. If you’re a fan of Star Trek you’ll know antimatter powers the warp drive which propels the Starship Enterprise to boldly travel across the Universe. But it’s not just science fiction, antimatter is real. Where you create a flash of energy, out of that comes both matter and antimatter. You can create it using particle accelerators, like the giant CERN accelerator in Switzerland.

In particle physics, antimatter is material composed of antiparticles, which have the same mass as particles of ordinary matter but opposite charges, as well as other particle properties such as lepton and baryon numbers and quantum spin. Collisions between particles and antiparticles lead to the annihilation of both, giving rise to variable proportions of intense photons, neutrinos, and less massive particle-antiparticle pairs. The total consequence of annihilation is a release of energy available for work, proportional to the total matter and antimatter mass, in accord with the mass-energy equivalence equation, E = mc2.

Nigel is an internationally acclaimed science populariser and author, specialising in astronomy and space.

[jncpapi]

but in the end it doesn't even matter

[paulthetallsigma]

I once had a cat made entirely of antimatter, he wandered the far reaches of the universe and caused a temporal rift. 10 years in my time only 5 minutes his time...

[atarimurouvidavies]

1 gram of anti matter cost 100 trillion lol.

[ReaperKezia]

It's all fun & games till the scientists decide to play hot potato with a ball sized anti matter & they drop it ending the entire physical world we all know. 🤔

[alexandraw]

if we ever were able to FIND, not just sporatically create for short periods of time, antimatter, would we be able to 1) harness it and 2) do it safely?

[Ridetheillusion]

*Looks at shirt*
Yeah, this guy likes to go to space, alright

[shayanbahmani]

Hi, what's the reasoning behind there being 1 additional matter that founded our universe and also is antimatter the same as a positron?

[kanwarpamnani]

if i collide matter and anti matter in a particle accelerator will i become the flash?

[JR-kkce]

I thought the definition of antimatter was matter traveling back in time. This would explain why it is so scarce. But, it sure would raise many questions.

[NicolasRodriguez-iuii]

isnt the extra 1 matter particle at the big bang thingy just a theory? or is it fully proved by now?

[THEREAPERCLAWS]

what are the main issues we face when attempting to harness anti matter?

[charbel]

It seems I fart anti-matter when I eat at Chipotle ! What's the big deal ? If 10 people got together, had a meal at chipotle and got on a space ship, there's no telling how far in the universe they can go and explore, maybe other galaxies !! Why haven't we done this ? Oh yea, we have to watch Game of thrones ! never mind !

[mahmoudosman]

hello nigel I want to ask what will happen when an electron is put infront of a positron without being collided with each other ??

[somerandomguywastaken]

How would antimatter react? Could it be in compounds and reactions like normal matter

[rhodesyuk]

they can only hold a very small amount for a very short time.

[callumflanagan]

You helped me with my school sa thank you nigel

[AberdeenAnthony]

I love that SERN and astronauts are talking about how antimatter would make a amazing fuel for a space craft . Because a young man by the name of Bob Lazar in the 1980s talked about being hired by Los alamos to reverse engineering the fuel system for a Alein aircraft Antimatter Fuel system nobody believed him . When the news called his college they said they never heard of him, they called Los Alamos they said he never worked there . Then local news found some records that proved he did actual work for Los Alamos .When the news called them to say hey we got proof he worked for you they just still denied everything . Then college Friends of Bob Lazar that went to MIT with him said yes i drove him to class . Then as Bob Says if i didn't goto college would Los Alamos of hired me. Theres a great Documentary on Netflix
Bob Lazar Area 51 & flying saucers. The more technologically
Advance we get the more his story is becoming true . He actually got to go inside the alien spacecraft and seen the deas bodys of aliens that they called the children there at the Los Alamos building. He says he doesn't care if anyone believes him or not. He just truly believes its the worst criminal offense ever commited on man kind keeping these from man kind . A Sheriff did 4 lie detectors test on him he past everyone . Then they found a guy he worked with and the Gentalman admited he worked with Bob Lazar . Theres many other things proving story . Its an amazing program i believe the Bob Lazar .

[rickyg]

I think antimatter was first discussed by Plato...I guess he sort of knew that explaining realty is pretty much useless without abstract concepts...I think people wud loose if everything all of a sudden made sense to them...perfect self awareness equals perfect paranioa

[cnnmn_]

Does antimatter seize to exist if it comes to contact with matter?

[zhantaram]

If the enrgy gain works on matter-antimatter collisions, will the output energy be equal to binding energy? And if so, is it really more feasible than conventional nuclear plants?