Free Custom «Antimatter» Essay Paper

Antimatter is a concept of particle physics that originated from the concept of anti particle. Unlike the normal matter that is composed of particles, antimatter is composed of antiparticles. Antimatter is also explained as particles that have negative gravity. This concept wad a discovery of scientists who believed that there can never be an empty space in the universe. There are other concepts of antimatter such as its discovery, its notation and its various uses.Discovery of AntimatterAntimatter came to acceptance among scientists after various discoveries done by scientists. This was after speculation that the whole world is not made up of mater. There must be some spaces that are made of antimatter. The initial idea was by William Hicks in 1880s using ideas from the vortex theory of gravity. This theory explains that there can never exist an empty space in the universe since every space must be filled with matter.  This matter is closely knit together, has different shapes, and moves freely in a circular motion.  The initial idea was of Rene Descartes who also distinguished between various forms of matter. He stated that Matter exists in different forms and sizes and that the rough forms resist circular motion more then the fine matter. His idea of non existence of empty space led to the concept of antimatter. Another idea was of Arthur Schuster who came up with a hypothesis that there are antiatoms, a solar system made up of anti matter and also the possibility of matter and antimatter annihilating each other.The contemporary theory of antimatter started from the idea of Paul Dirac after he realized that his relativistic concept of Schrodinger wave equation which describes how the quantum state of physical system changers as time goes by.  When he applied this equation in electrons, he realized that it was predicting that there might be anti-electrons. Full discovery of anti-electrons was therefore done by Carl Anderson who referred to them as positrons. This term therefore progressed to antimatter which is referred to in the modern physics (Anderson, 38).

Notation of antimatter

Antimatter, since it is an antiparticle, it is denoted by adding a bar on top of the symbol of that particular particle. For example, since a proton is denoted as p, antiproton is denoted as p^_ . The other method of distinguishing them is by their electric charges. The electrons are therefore denoted by e^- while the positrons are denoted by e⁺ (Baker, 98).Uses of antimatterAntimatter can be used in the medical processes and also in production of energy that may be used as fuel. In medical, reactions between matter and antimatter have been used in medical imaging for example the poritron emission tomography. In fueling, collisions between matter and antimatter results in emission of photons while the rest of the mass is changed to kinetic energy. The energy per unit mass is found to be ten times greater than chemical energy.  Reaction of about a kilo of antimatter and a kilo of matter can produce about 180 petajoules of energy.  This energy can also be used in making missile materials such as Uranium. Use of antimatter in rocketry for example the red shift rocket has also given an idea that antimatter can be used a fuel in interplanetary travel. Since antimatter has a higher density than the conventional fuels, this would use a different thrust equation for such a craft (Vornholt, 45).Various discoveries led to the concept of antimatter and this concept was eventually accepted in the modern physics. After it came to be accepted that there can't be an empty space in the universe, the scientists found a way of denoting the antiparticles.  It has also been found of importance in various uses such as medical imaging and also in production of energy.