Antimatter created at CERN laboratory

Antimatter has been produced by scientists. The discovery was made at the CERN research laboratory. Typically, merely the traces of antimatter, not antimatter itself, are observable. Post resource – CERN researchers capture antimatter for the first time by Personal Money Store.

Very first time seeing antimatter atoms

The Telegraph reports that in an experiment, antimatter was captures by the CERN laboratory scientists in Geneva Switzerland. Only 38 atoms of antihydrogen were able to be caught for a fifth of a second before blasting out of existence. For subatomic particles, a fifth of a second is a long time. To produce antihydrogen, scientists used the Anti-hydrogen Laser Physics Apparatus, or ALPHA, to bombard a contained field with concerning 700 million positrons, or positively charged electrons, with concerning 10 million protons, according to the BBC. A gas cloud the size of a match head was formed within the magnetic container used to do the experiment. 38 atoms of antihydrogen were formed this way. Antihydrogen is the element used in studies as it is basically hydrogen, the simplest element, with opposite charges.

Antimatter not just for science hype

A particle of matter with an opposite electrical charge is exactly what antimatter is. A negative charge with a certain behavior is exactly what normal electrons usually do. Anti-electron, sometimes called positrons, have optimistic charges although they behave just like an electrons. In 1932, man named Carl D. Anderson at CalTech confirmed positrons existed. The Nobel Prize in Physics was given to him for this. When antimatter comes in contact with ordinary matter, the particles annihilate each other. What the biggest concern seems to be studying antimatter without losing it.

Physics concerned about this

Matter and antimatter are some of the greatest mysteries in physics. The universe would have annihilated itself if there were the same amount of antimatter and matter, proving there is more matter. That is the reason why the creation of a few atoms of antimatter in a laboratory was amazing. This is true even if it were just a few seconds.

Citations

The Telegraph

telegraph.co.uk/science/8141780/Antimatter-captured-by-CERN-scientists-in-dramatic-physics-breakthrough.html

The BBC

bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-11773791

Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antimatter