Antimatter is literally matter which is the inverse or opposite of matter; particles which have charges opposite of regular matter.
Antimatter was first predicted by P.A.
M. Dirac in his theory of quantum mechanics in 1928. Antiparticles were found soon after by
Carl Anderson. Since then, research centers such as CERN and Fermilab produce antimatter particles on a daily basis. CERN uses a Proton Synchrotron machine to accelerate protons and then they inject them into the Antiproton Decelerator - a gigantic circular machine with a diameter of
18 km. Here the protons are smashed into a copper or iridium block of metal. The abrupt
stop from such an incredible
speed (about the speed of light) results in an enormous amount of energy released into a small volume, resulting in extreme temperatures greater than 10,000,000,000,000 Celsius. This enormous amount of
heat and energy results in the spontaneous creation of matter-antimatter particles.
When antimatter comes in contact with regular matter - earth,
air, whatever - it annihilates immediately in a 100% efficient reaction. A
popular misconception is that this antimatter-matter reaction
will someday allow antimatter for use as a source of fuel, or power source. Unfortunately, this is an impossible reality. Since antimatter is not found anywhere on Earth naturally (obviously), it must be created. With the equation E=mc2, it is IMPOSSIBLE to have a net gain of matter: the energy required running the accelerators would ALWAYS be more than the energy antimatter produced.
It's true that a quarter gram of antimatter has as much power as the nuclear
bomb dropped on
Hiroshima. This raises concern as to whether it could eventually be yielded as a
terrorist device. Fortunately, it is IMPOSSIBLE to collect and store antimatter at this great of a density, and even if it were possible, with the current technology it would take billions and billions of years to yield that much. In
fact, if CERN were to have kept all of the antimatter it ever produced; it would be enough to power a light bulb for about three seconds. Anyways, even with these things aside, it's completely impractical considering how much time,
money, and energy is required to create antimatter.
This information is from the CERN official web site.
For more information visit:
www.cern.ch
www.fnal.gov
