WPC  
      2 S      B       P    V   `          Courier 10cpi  | x             ? x x x ,    kx 6X   @ 8; X@                                                                                                                    james wengle james wengle         2                                              3'                                          3'                                           3'                                          3'                                                                               4
<D                      3'                                          3'                                           3'                                          3'                                                  3'                                          3'                                           3'                                          3'                                                3'                                          3'                                           3'                                          3'                                                        !    #   \	    P C    P# AntiMatter
   #  d \	    P C    P# 
#   \	    P C    P# Introduction
#   \	    P C    P# 
#  d \	    P C    P#        #   \	    P C    P#        #   \	    P C    P# Ordinary matter has negatively charged electrons
circling a positively charged nuclei. Antimat#   \	    P C    P# 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 #   \	    P C    P# believe will lead to the creation of the first
antimatter element  AntiHydrogen.
#  d \	    P C    P# 
#   \	    P C    P# The Research
#   \	    P C    P# 
#  d \	    P C    P# #   \	    P C    P#        #   \	    P C    P# 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#   \	    P C    P# 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#   \	    P C    P# ng as a negative mass.
#  d \	    P C    P# 
#   \	    P C    P#        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#   \	    P C    P# ely, and their arrangement makes no difference.
#  d \	    P C    P# 
#   \	    P C    P#        #   \	    P C    P# 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#   \	    P C    P#  travel at a velocity of that near
the speed of light, is neccesary #   \	    P C    P# so that they have a chance
of meeting and combining into antihydrogen.                          footnote tex   #  d \	    P C    P#           Swiss boldly poised to produce antimatter ĩ John Eades,
researcher at CERN  #  P \	    P C    P# #   \	    P C    P#  
#   \	    P C    P# 
#   \	    P C    P#        The problems with research in the field of antimatter
is #   \	    P C    P# 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#   \	    P C    P# 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#   \	    P C    P# t #   \	    P C    P# once.
#   \	    P C    P# 
#   \	    P C    P#        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#   \	    P C    P# 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#   \	    P C    P#  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.
#   \	    P C    P# 
#   \	    P C    P# The Unanswerable Question
#   \	    P C    P# 
#   \	    P C    P#        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#   \	    P C    P# ntimatter that somehow became
sepa#   \	    P C    P# 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.
#   \	    P C    P# 
#   \	    P C    P#        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#   \	    P C    P# e matter than #   \	    P C    P# antimatter should
be formed.  In this scenario, the matter would have to
exceed the antimatter by one part in 1000 million.
#   \	    P C    P#        
#   \	    P C    P#        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.
#   \	    P C    P# 
#   \	    P C    P# The Chemistry
#   \	    P C    P# 
#   \	    P C    P#        Though they have no charge, antineutrons differ from
neutrons in having opposite 'spin' and 'baryon number'.  All
he#   \	    P C    P# 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 #   \	    P C    P# +#   \	    P C    P# 1) can become a proton (baryon
number #   \	    P C    P# +#   \	    P C    P# 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
#   \	    P C    P# +#   \	    P C    P# 1.  But a proton cannot simply be annihilated.
#   \	    P C    P# 
#   \	    P C    P#        A proton and antiproton (baryon number 1) #   \	    P C    P# can#   \	    P C    P#  join
togeth#   \	    P C    P# 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#   \	    P C    P# 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:
#   \	    P C    P# 
#   \	    P C    P#                                p #   \	    P C    P# + #   \	    P C    P# p      #   \	    P C    P#         p #   \	    P C    P# + #   \	    P C    P# p #   \	    P C    P# + #   \	    P C    P# p
#   \	    P C    P# + #   \	    P C    P# p
#   \	    P C    P# 
#   \	    P C    P#        Two protons (p) become three protons plus an
antiproton(p); the total baryon number before is:
#   \	    P C    P#                              1 #   \	    P C    P# + #   \	    P C    P# 1 #   \	    P C    P# = #   \	    P C    P# 2
#   \	    P C    P#        And after the collision it is:
#   \	    P C    P#                              1 #   \	    P C    P# + #   \	    P C    P# 1 #   \	    P C    P# + #   \	    P C    P# 1  1 #   \	    P C    P# =  #   \	    P C    P# 2
#   \	    P C    P#        Still two.
#   \	    P C    P# 
#   \	    P C    P#        Antimatter elements have the same properties as matter
properties.  For example, two atoms of antihydrogen and one
atom of antioxygen would become antiwater.
#   \	    P C    P# 
#   \	    P C    P# The Article
#   \	    P C    P# 
#   \	    P C    P#        The article chosen reflects on recent advancements in
antimatter research.  Scientists in Switzerland ha#   \	    P C    P# 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#   \	    P C    P# h positrons to form antihydrogen.
#   \	    P C    P# 
#   \	    P C    P#        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#   \	    P C    P# . #   \	    P C    P# '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 \	    P C    P#    Swiss boldly poised to produce antimatter  John Eades,
researcher at CERN  #  P \	    P C    P# #   \	    P C    P# 
#   \	    P C    P# 
#   \	    P C    P#        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#   \	    P C    P# 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#   \	    P C    P# ipe out the life on earth
in mere minutes.
#   \	    P C    P# 
#   \	    P C    P#        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#   \	    P C    P# 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.
#   \	    P C    P# 
#   \	    P C    P# Con#   \	    P C    P# clusion
#   \	    P C    P#        
#   \	    P C    P#        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#   \	    P C    P# rst to manufacture the
antimatter elements.
#  d \	    P C    P# 
