WPC 2SBPV`Courier 10cpi|x?xxx,kx6X@8;X@ james wenglejames wengle  2   3' 3' 3' 3'     4 <D 3' 3' 3' 3'    3' 3' 3' 3' 3' 3' 3' 3'          ! #\  PCP#AntiMatter #d\  PCP# #\  PCP#Introduction #\  PCP# #d\  PCP##\  PCP##\  PCP#Ordinary matter has negatively charged electrons circling a positively charged nuclei. Antimat#\  PCP#ter has positively charged electrons positrons orbiting a nuclei with a negative charge antiprotons. Only antiprotons and positrons are able to be produced at this time, but scientists in Switzerland have begun a series of experiments which they #\  PCP#believe will lead to the creation of the first antimatter element AntiHydrogen. #d\  PCP# #\  PCP#The Research #\  PCP# #d\  PCP##\  PCP##\  PCP#Early scientists often made two mistakes about antimatter. Some thought it had a negative mass, and would thus feel gravity as a push rather than a pu#\  PCP#ll. If this were so, the antiproton's negative mass/energy would cancel the proton's when they met and nothing would remain; in reality, two extremely highenergy gamma photons are produced. Today's theories of the universe say that there is no such thi#\  PCP#ng as a negative mass. #d\  PCP# #\  PCP#The second and more subtle mistake is the idea that antiwater would only annihilate with ordinary water, and could safety be kept in (say) an iron container. This is not so: it is the subatomic particles that react so destructiv#\  PCP#ely, and their arrangement makes no difference. #d\  PCP# #\  PCP##\  PCP#Scientists at CERN in Geneva are working on a device called the LEAR (low energy antiproton ring) in an attempt to slow the velocity of the antiprotons to a billionth of their normal speeds. The slowing of the antiprotons and positrons, which normally#\  PCP# travel at a velocity of that near the speed of light, is neccesary #\  PCP#so that they have a chance of meeting and combining into antihydrogen.footnote tex#d\  PCP#Swiss boldly poised to produce antimatter ĩ John Eades, researcher at CERN#P\  PCP##\  PCP# #\  PCP# #\  PCP#The problems with research in the field of antimatter is #\  PCP#that when the antimatter elements touch matter elements they annihilate each other. The total combined mass of both elements are released in a spectacular blast of energy. Electrons and positrons come together and vanish into highenergy gamma rays (plu#\  PCP#s a certain number of harmless neutrinos, which pass through whole planets without effect). Hitting ordinary matter, 1 kg of antimatter explodes with the force of up to 43 million tons of TNT as though several thousand Hiroshima bombs were detonated a#\  PCP#t #\  PCP#once. #\  PCP# #\  PCP#So how can antimatter be stored? Space seems the only place, both for storage and for largescale production. On Earth, gravity will sooner or later pull any antimatter into disastrous contact with matter. Antimatter has the opposite effect of gravi#\  PCP#ty on it, the antimatter is 'pushed away' by the gravitational force due to its opposite nature to that of matter. A way around the gravity problem appears at CERN, where fast moving antiprotons can be held in a 'storage ring' around which they#\  PCP# constantly move and kept away from the walls of the vacuum chamber by magnetic fields. However, this only works for charged particles, it does not work for antineutrons, for example. #\  PCP# #\  PCP#The Unanswerable Question #\  PCP# #\  PCP#Though antimatter can be manufactured, slowly, natural antimatter has never been found. In theory, we should expect equal amounts of matter and antimatter to be formed at the beginning of the universe perhaps some far off galaxies are the made of a#\  PCP#ntimatter that somehow became sepa#\  PCP#rated from matter long ago. A problem with the theory is that cosmic rays that reach Earth from faroff parts are often made up of protons or even nuclei, never of antiprotons or antinuclei. There may be no natural antimatter anywhere. #\  PCP# #\  PCP#In that case, what happened to it? The most obvious answer is that, as predicted by theory, all the matter and antimatter underwent mutual annihilation in the first seconds of creation; but why there do we still have matter? It seems unlikely that mor#\  PCP#e matter than #\  PCP#antimatter should be formed. In this scenario, the matter would have to exceed the antimatter by one part in 1000 million. #\  PCP# #\  PCP#An alternative theory is produced by the physicist M. Goldhaber in 1956, is that the universe divided into two parts after its formation the universe that we live in, and an alternate universe of antimatter that cannot be observed by us. #\  PCP# #\  PCP#The Chemistry #\  PCP# #\  PCP#Though they have no charge, antineutrons differ from neutrons in having opposite 'spin' and 'baryon number'. All he#\  PCP#avy particles, like protons or neutrons, are called baryons. A firm rule is that the total baryon number cannot change, though this apparently fails inside black holes. A neutron (baryon number #\  PCP#+#\  PCP#1) can become a proton (baryon number #\  PCP#+#\  PCP#1) and an electron (baryon number 0 since an electron is not a baryon but a light particle). The total electric charge stays at zero and the total baryon number at #\  PCP#+#\  PCP#1. But a proton cannot simply be annihilated. #\  PCP# #\  PCP#A proton and antiproton (baryon number 1) #\  PCP#can#\  PCP# join togeth#\  PCP#er in an annihilation of both. The two heavy particles meet in a flare of energy and vanish, their mass converted to highenergy radiation wile their opposite charges and baryon numbers cancel out. We can make antiprotons in the laboratory by turning th#\  PCP#is process round, using a particle accelerator to smash protons together at such enormous energies that the energy of collision is more than twice the mass/energy of a proton. The resulting reaction is written: #\  PCP# #\  PCP# p #\  PCP#+ #\  PCP#p #\  PCP# p #\  PCP#+ #\  PCP#p #\  PCP#+ #\  PCP#p #\  PCP#+ #\  PCP#p #\  PCP# #\  PCP#Two protons (p) become three protons plus an antiproton(p); the total baryon number before is: #\  PCP# 1 #\  PCP#+ #\  PCP#1 #\  PCP#= #\  PCP#2 #\  PCP#And after the collision it is: #\  PCP# 1 #\  PCP#+ #\  PCP#1 #\  PCP#+ #\  PCP#1 1 #\  PCP#= #\  PCP#2 #\  PCP#Still two. #\  PCP# #\  PCP#Antimatter elements have the same properties as matter properties. For example, two atoms of antihydrogen and one atom of antioxygen would become antiwater. #\  PCP# #\  PCP#The Article #\  PCP# #\  PCP#The article chosen reflects on recent advancements in antimatter research. Scientists in Switzerland ha#\  PCP#ve begun experimenting with a LEAR device (low energy antiproton ring) which would slow the particle velocity by a billionth of its original velocity. This is all done in an effort to slow the velocity to such a speed where it can combine chemically wit#\  PCP#h positrons to form antihydrogen. #\  PCP# #\  PCP#The author of the article, whose name was not included on the article, failed to investigate other antimatter research laboratories and their advancements. The author focused on the CERN research laboratory in Geneva#\  PCP#. #\  PCP#'The intriguing thing about our work is that it flies in the face of all other current developments in particle physics' .$footnote text$footnote tex#d\  PCP#Swiss boldly poised to produce antimatter John Eades, researcher at CERN#P\  PCP##\  PCP# #\  PCP# #\  PCP#The article also focused on the intrigue into the discovering the antimatter secret, but did not mention much on the destruction and mayhem antimatter would cause if not treated with the utmost care and safety. Discovering antimatter could mean the e#\  PCP#nd of the Earth as we know it, one mistake could mean the end of the world and a release of highenergy gamma rays that could w#\  PCP#ipe out the life on earth in mere minutes. #\  PCP# #\  PCP#It was a quite interesting article, with a lot of information that could affect the entire world. The article, however, did not focus on the benefits or disadvantages of antimatter nor did it mention the practical uses of antimatter. They are too exp#\  PCP#ensive to use for powering rocket ships, and are not safe for household or industrial use, so have no meaning to the general public. It is merely a race to see who can make the first antimatter element. #\  PCP# #\  PCP#Con#\  PCP#clusion #\  PCP# #\  PCP#As research continues into the field of antimatter there might be some very interesting and practical uses of antimatter in the society of the future. Until there is a practical use, this is merely an attempt to prove which research lab will be the fi#\  PCP#rst to manufacture the antimatter elements. #d\  PCP#