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Why is there far more matter than antimatter in the visible universe?
Wiki User
∙ 16y ago
It may have to do with the way the universe was created. Certainly if there was a lot of antimatter created, much of it may well have come in contact with matter through the billions of years the universe has existed. That would have resulted in the conversion of that antimatter (along with a like amount of matter) into energy. There may not have been much antimatter around to begin with, too. But, since the amount of visible matter represents less matter than has been calculated to exist in the uinverse, it may be that there is a good bit of antimatter out there somewhere. Not likely, but possible.
Wiki User
∙ 16y ago
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How come the universe is made of matter and not antimatter?
That is not currently known. There is a slight assymetry between matter and antimatter, but so far, it seems that this assymetry is not enough to explain why there is only matter, and hardly any antimatter, in the Universe. Without such an assymetry, there wouldn't be either matter or antimatter in the Universe - just radiation. For more information about what is known, and what isn't, check the Wikipedia article on "Baryon asymmetry".
Is there a large enough quantity of anti-matter to destroy the universe And where is it located?
It seems the Universe consists almost entirely out of matter - that is, there are no significant amounts of antimatter. Why there is more matter than antimatter is an unsolved problem.
What are two questions physicists have regarding antimatter?
1. Why is there more matter than antimatter in the Universe? Or: Why is there matter at all? (If there were the same amount of matter and antimatter, and it came into contact, it would quickly get destroyed. 2. If antimatter is so abundant, how come we've never come in contact with it or have been able to observe it?
Why was matter in greater amount during formation of the Universe?
Because (we think) both matter and antimatter was formed initially, most of which was canceled out to form more energy.
What state of matter is most abundant in space?
Plasma. It makes up more than 99% of visible matter in the universe, and most of the invisible matter.
What can be possible reasons for matter prevailing over the antimatter?
who knows, your guess is as good as mine, but i believe that matter isn't prevailing, maybe there are more antimatter than matter in some distant planet or something.
What is matter and anitmatter?
Antimatter has particles with properties that are the opposite of normal matter (in some of their properties). For example, normal matter - the one we are most familiar with - consists of atoms that have protons with a positive charge, electrons with a negative charge, and neutrons, which are electrically neutral. In antimatter, there are anti-protons with a negative charge, anti-electrons (also know as "positrons") with a positive charge, and anti-neutrons (which are also neutral, but differ from the normal neutron in some other property). When matter (for example a proton) meets antimatter (for example, an anti-proton), both get destroyed - they convert to pure radiation, i.e., gamma rays. It is not currently known why there is apparently more matter than antimatter in the Universe, although it is believed that the symmetry between matter and antimatter is an almost-symmetry - i.e., the symmetry is not perfect.
What is the importance of antihydrogen?
Antimatter is the opposite of matter and so when the two come in contact with each other, they become nothing but neutral energy. The idea that it is possible to create antiatoms is astounding simply because matter is everywhere. On top of this, it takes a lot of energy. so to create antimatter alone is rather difficult. It's also a difficult thing to sustain for more than a few seconds, if even that long, because it's always surrounded by matter. In other words... The fact that they were able to create it is simply incredible. Further more, if we look into the theories there are about antimatter, we can see some amazing things that could end up being true. One of these is the idea that the big bang began with a neutral Higgs particle which somehow became imbalanced. suddenly, this imbalance created a supermassive amount of energy. Because the Higgs particle is so heavy, much antimatter and matter were expelled. Because there was an imbalance, the amount was not perfectly equal and so it wasn't all cancelled out. The idea is that there was more matter. The matter that was equal to the antimatter was cancelled out by the antimatter and the rest of it became what we see as today's universe. Due to the fact that it was thrown outward so rapidly however, not all the matter and antimatter touched. Which meas that some anti matter flew way out to the far reaches of the universe...(Which was, scientifically speaking, much much smaller when if first started. Then it got really big really slowly... that is the meaning of big bang... slow expansion) So there could be regions of our universe bigger than our galaxy that are completely composed of dark matter. It really isn't important, but one day a million years from now, when people can travel space that far out... then it may just matter...
What happens if antimatter gets sucked into a black hole?
Just the same as if normal matter falls in. The matter or antimatter will stay there, increasing the mass of the black hole (and making it more "hungry", i.e., making its gravity stronger).
How could it B true that matter and antimatter at start of big bang With little amount of matter left in end winning B enough 2 make up all we see today?
In the early universe, matter and antimatter were created in equal amounts. As the universe cooled and expanded, there was a slight imbalance in favor of matter over antimatter. This allowed the matter to survive and form the structures we see today, while most of the antimatter annihilated with matter, resulting in the predominance of matter in the universe.
Would the world be different if it was made of antimatter?
Yes, it would be different. Antimatter is in a way the opposite of matter, but it is not the exact opposite. There are slight differences - and that is somehow the reason why we have significant amounts of matter, and not of antimatter, in the first place - though the exact details are not well-known yet (you can find out more details in the Wikipedia article on "Baryogenesis").
What is origin of antimatter?
The origin of antimatter on earth today is the Hadron-collider at CERN in Switzerland. There they have a large ring (several kilometers in diameter) that they use to study and discover small, new particles to learn more about how our Universe was created and what happened during the Big Bang. At CERN, they send protons in each direction in the ring with very high speed. They then collide, and then some antimatter is produced from the destroyed protons. The amount of antimatter produced, however, is a very small amount, and it will take millions of years before we get even 1 gram of antimatter! However, in the early Universe, very shortly after the Big Bang, there were extremely high amounts of antimatter. At that time, there were equally amounts of matter and antimatter (roughly 50% of each). There was, however, a small imbalance between them. For every 100 million antiparticles there were, there were 101 million particles. As you probably know, matter and antimatter have opposite charges, spin, color charges etc. If they touch each other, they get annihilated in a shower of pure energy. Albert Einstein figured out that there was much energy in matter, relating to his well known formula E= mc2. That's very high amounts of energy! If you had transformed 1 gram of matter into energy, you would have enough energy to power your house for 1 year. We're talking about lots of energy here! The superpowers used Einstein's formula to create fission bombs (atom bombs), and fusion bombs (hydrogen bombs). These converted only a small amount of matter into energy. If there had existed an antimatter bomb, all of the antimatter would have reacted to matter, thus converting all of the antimatter and the matter that reacted with it to energy. While an atom bomb only has an efficiency of 0,01%, a hydrogen bomb would have an efficiency of 1%. An antimatter bomb would have an efficiency of 100%!
