There are also more elementary antiparticles like antineutrinos, while some particles are their own antiparticle (typically elementary bosons like photons or the hypothetical graviton), that do not interact with each other but simply pass through one another. These combine to form positrons, antiprotons, and antineutrons, which is mostly what we are concerned with when we commonly talk about antimatter. The various quarks make up the matter as we know it and thus have complementary antiquarks. Wherever ordinary matter will have positive baryon or lepton numbers, antimatter will have negative baryon and lepton numbers.Įvery particle of matter in physics is known or hypothesized to have an antiparticle equivalent, even photons. So, whereas an electron is a negatively charged particle with a quantifiable atomic mass, a positron is a positively charged particle with the same atomic mass as an electron.īoth matter and antimatter can be defined by their baryon or lepton numbers. In simple physical terms, antimatter is the mirror image of ordinary matter, but with the opposite electrical charge. That last bit is the real challenge, obviously, but it's helped drive new innovations with antimatter that could help power warping drives sooner than you'd think.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |