Why would anyone think it would fall up?
Because things exist
(the antigravity hypothesis was an attempt to explain why matter and antimatter haven’t annihilated each other)
Because one common assumption was that the universe might contain as much antimatter as matter.
Which begs the question: Where did it go? We would notice a huge amount of annihilation reactions in the solar system.
“Antimatter falls up” (is gravitationally repelled instead of attracted by normal matter) was an easy hypothesis to explain that.
Hmm interesting. I wondered if it would be attracted or repelled by matter. It does annihilate when it comes in contact with mater, right?
The reason antimatter is “anti” is that an antiparticle has the opposite charge of its non-anti counterpart. Electrons have a negative charge, while their antiparticles, positrons have a positive charge. And since opposite charges attract, well, I think you can figure it out from there.
And yes, matter/antimatter interactions result in annihilation.
What exactly does “annihilation” mean in this context. Do both “atoms” give off energy and convert to sub atomic particles? Does one atom kind of “win” over the other and undergo fission instead of complete annihilation?
Annihilation means exactly that - both particles destroy each other on contact, releasing the energy that composed them.
Isn’t “falling up” just another way of saying that it’s repelled by matter?
Yes
But from the antimatter’s perspective, it falls up.
So then it is not really antimatter in the sense that it is completely opposite?
So antimatter still has positive mass?
In my limited understanding, antimatter just means the particles have the opposite charge of normal matter. All other attributes are not part of the definition of antimatter.
Charge isn’t the right word, although I’m not sure what the right word is. Otherwise you’ve got it right.
No, charge is the right word. But i was wrong about charge being the only difference, apparently antimatter’s “parity” and “time” are also opposite of normal matter. Whatever that means.
Duh. Negative mass doesn’t exist. Antiparticles just have an opposite charge.
Removed by mod
How? Pro doesn’t mean positive. If anything they’d be called contons.
Removed by mod
