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‘Antimatter’ in a universe made of matter

by Gyanvitaranam

    With the discovery of electron by J.J. Thomson in 1897, speculation arose about the possibility of the existence of a positively charged electron. Urgency increased when Paul Dirac (1928), in his now famous equation described the behaviour of electron. Four years later Dirac’s theory was proved right when the first anti-electron, positron, was discovered by Carl Anderson among the tracks of cosmic rays.

   Merely saying that antimatter is opposite of matter doesn’t provide the complete picture – inside atoms we find swirling electric currents, powerful magnetic fields and electrical forces that attract some things, and repel others. Similarly, within atoms of anti-matter these currents, fields, and forces are also present, but their polarities are reversed, i.e., north poles become south poles. Imagine gently propelling a tiny magnet towards the outlying region of an atom, then launch it at an anti-matter, and compare what happens....

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