When a positron meets an electron, they destroy each other. But when a proton meets an electron, it forms a stable hydrogen atom.

They both have a quantum spin of one half. They both have a positive electric charge of the same strength. For instance, a proton and a positron are somewhat similar. Antimatter is therefore only distinct from regular matter in that it annihilates when meeting regular matter. In fact, medical PET scans routinely use annihilation events in order to form images of patients. This matter-antimatter mutual annihilation has been observed many times and is a well-established principle. What makes antimatter unique is that when antimatter comes in contact with its regular matter counterpart, they mutually destroy each other and all of their mass is converted to energy. For every particle that exists, there is an antimatter counterpart (some particles such as photons are their own anti-particles). Also, antimatter is gravitationally attracted to other forms of matter just like regular matter. For starters, antimatter has regular mass and accelerates in response to forces just like regular matter. Antimatter is not as exotic as science fiction makes it out to be. They both have the same mass, but have opposite electric charge. For example, the antimatter version of an electron is a positron. Although the names sound vague and almost fictional, the types of matter called antimatter, dark matter, dark energy, and degenerate matter are all different, specific entities that really exist in our universe.Īntimatter is just regular matter with a few properties flipped, such as the electric charge. Mahdavi (San Francisco State University). Jee (University of California, Davis), and A. Public Domain Image, source: NASA, ESA, CFHT, CXO, M.J.

The dark matter left behind is colored blue and is determined by gravitational lensing measurements. The hot gas from the collision is colored green. The starlight is colored white and orange, showing the location of the galaxies. Composite astronomical image of dark matter being left behind after a collision of galaxies (Cluster Abell 520).

Matter antimatter