[Prev][Next][Index][Thread]
(meteorobs) Anti-Matter
I'm no expert in such matters, but if there were `chunks` of
anti-matter drifting around in our vicinity, surely we would have
observational evidence such as highly energetic explosive events
on the moon and/or other planets ? Also, wouldn't it be likely to
interact energetically with the dust, cosmic particles or stray
hydrogen atoms floating around out there long before reaching
earth's atmosphere ?
Andrew Simmons
Ever since Paul Dirac proposed the idea of anti-matter, scientists
have been wondering where it is and why we haven't seen any. One theory
is that when the universe was cooling after the big bang, matter and
anti-matter annihilated. However, since CP symmetry is not perfect,
there was slightly more matter than anti-matter. After everything
cancelled, the little bit of left over matter that remained was
everything in our universe.
However, anti-matter does occasionally pop in and out of existence
(a side effect of quantum theory), but if this occurs in empty space
nothing happens.
Chris Hudson