• Match!!@pawb.social
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      1 year ago

      Because things exist

      (the antigravity hypothesis was an attempt to explain why matter and antimatter haven’t annihilated each other)

    • foyrkopp@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      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.

  • JohnDClay@sh.itjust.works
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    1 year ago

    Hmm interesting. I wondered if it would be attracted or repelled by matter. It does annihilate when it comes in contact with mater, right?

    • Davel23@kbin.social
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      1 year ago

      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.

      • Plibbert@lemmy.ml
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        1 year ago

        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?

        • Dr. Bluefall@toast.ooo
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          1 year ago

          Annihilation means exactly that - both particles destroy each other on contact, releasing the energy that composed them.

  • Sibbo@sopuli.xyz
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    1 year ago

    So then it is not really antimatter in the sense that it is completely opposite?

    So antimatter still has positive mass?