Matter is what our body or a car, for example, is made of. Throughout the universe there are millions of things that are made up of matter, and this matter is made up of atoms. But did you know that only 4% of the universe is made up of these atoms? Another small part is made up of antimatter, and we explain what it is.
Antimatter is something relatively new to science, and it really has been studied for less than 100 years . Since then, many discoveries have been made to unravel the origin and composition of this antimatter, and thanks to these advances, little by little, it will gain great weight for humanity. In the following lines we are going to try to explain, in simple words, what antimatter is, and what are some of its uses that can change the future of human beings.
Antimatter, what is it?
Unraveling the mysteries that antimatter holds has taken the scientific community a good number of years, but actually understanding what is relatively easy. At the beginning of these lines you have been able to read that everything that is matter, and this in turn formed is made up of atoms composed of electrons, protons and neutrons. At this point it is easier to understand antimatter, and it is that it can be considered as “a mirror of matter” , being composed of other different particles with charges opposite to the previous ones, called antiprotons, positrons (or antielectrons) and antineutrons.
Let’s take as an example a simple hydrogen atom, one of the simplest we can find. Without going into too much scientific detail, a hydrogen atom is made up of one electron and one proton. As if it were a mirror, there is also the antihydrogen atom, which also has two different particles: a positron and an antiproton. As you can see in the image below, this makes these atoms two opposite elements, and this asymmetry is something that occurs with all matter and antimatter .
Hydrogen and antihydrogen model.
One of the properties that asymmetry has, and perhaps one of its most surprising, is that when antimatter comes into contact with matter, both destroy each other, disappearing completely. This releases a large amount of energy, something that could be key as an energy source (as we will see later). To this day it is really unknown how much antimatter there is in the universe .
What uses can antimatter have?
The uses of antimatter in technology are not yet very widespread, something logical if we take into account that there are still too many unknowns that surround it. Despite this, there are some uses that are being given today related to medicine, and research is being done on how to use it as a fuel source, something that would make us dispense with fossil fuels in the future.
Positron emission tomography
These scanners have become very essential in today’s medicine, with very precise results. In addition to precision, these types of procedures often show disease much sooner than more traditional means , such as MRIs or CT scans.
To carry out this type of test, the patient is injected with an intravenous tracer that has to spread throughout the body, and once it has done so , the body is bombarded with positrons . These generate a series of movements or activities in the electromagnetic field, which is why this procedure is usually combined with MRI to obtain a much more precise result and a much more detailed image.
Positron emission tomography machine
Antiprotons as a treatment for cancer
This application is still in the testing phase, but it is already giving very good results. As you have read above, the main property of antimatter is that it completely eliminates matter, leaving no trace of both. This treatment consists precisely in making use of this principle, since if the carcinogenic particles are bombarded with antiparticles, we would make them disappear from the patient’s body .
The results of the tests of this process have shown very positive data, since using this process it is possible to eliminate cancer cells without damaging healthy tissue , which is one of the main problems with the treatments used today. We will still have to wait a while to see this type of treatment in hospitals, but it is certainly great news.
Much more efficient fuel
The fact that energy is released when antimatter and matter self-destruct makes this a good fuel source. Without going any further, NASA claims that a very small amount of antimatter (much less than a milligram) would be capable of propelling a human mission to Mars . Impressive, right?
The real headache for researchers is to find out how to manufacture antimatter and how to store it, since this is currently unfeasible. This use is possibly the one that needs the most time to become a reality, being in the future the clear substitute for the fuels used on Earth .
