Antimatter: The Opposite of Matter and the Future of Space Travel
By Gabrielle Toutin
Staff Writer
Antimatter seems like science fiction. It is what powers the starships and what makes antimatter warheads explode in Star Trek, and has generally been in science fiction for quite some time. However, it is not just science fiction. Antimatter is a reality and may be the key to faster-than-light travel.
Antimatter is everything matter isn’t. An atom of antimatter’s subatomic particles (protons, neutrons, and electrons) will have opposite charges than their normal matter counterparts. An anti-proton will have a negative charge, and a positron (anti-electron) will have a positive charge (Dunbar). When antimatter and matter meet, the combined masses of both will be converted to energy.
Antimatter is produced in multiple ways. The CERN supercollider makes a miniscule amount of antimatter-matter pairs from energy (as matter cannot be created nor destroyed). However, antimatter isn’t only produced artificially. The Big Bang produced equal amounts of matter and antimatter. Bananas produce a positron every 75 minutes. This is due to bananas being rich in potassium, and among the potassium isotopes in bananas is potassium-40. Potassium-40 decays, emitting positrons (Tanedo). An 80 kilogram human body emits 180 positrons per hour, due to the presence of potassium-40 in food (“Making Antimatter”).
Antimatter-matter reactions are what propel starships in Star Trek. This may also become reality as well, as matter-antimatter reactions are 100% efficient, making it a very efficient fuel (Walorski). Antimatter may be used in the Alcubierre Drive. The Alcubierre drive consists of bending spacetime and creating a pocket of normal space to rest a spacecraft on. This spacecraft can travel faster than light. But the ship isn’t moving, space is moving around the ship. However, we are not certain if this bubble can even exist in our universe. NASA’s Harold White and his team are leading experiments to find out if it’s possible. The first warp-drive spaceship (if possible) will be named the IXS Enterprise, after the USS Enterprise in Star Trek (Hruska).
Antimatter has the potential to power our trips to nearby stars and revolutionize physics and astronomy. On FTL (faster than light) trips to distant planets, other intelligent species could be discovered. New innovations would enable us to produce enough antimatter to build starships, perhaps even colonize other planets, and to generally boldly go.
Works Cited
Dunbar, Brian. "Warp Drive, When?" NASA. NASA, 15 Mar. 2006. Web. 19 Feb. 2015. <http://www.nasa.gov/centers/glenn/technology/warp/antistat.html>.
Hruska, Joel. "NASA Unveils Its Futuristic Warp Drive Starship – Called Enterprise, of Course | ExtremeTech." ExtremeTech. 11 June 2014. Web. 19 Feb. 2015. <http://www.extremetech.com/extreme/184143-nasa-unveils-its-futuristic-warp-drive-starship-called-enterprise-of-course>.
"Making Antimatter." Angels & Demons - The Science behind the Story. CERN. Web. 19 Feb. 2015. <http://angelsanddemons.web.cern.ch/>.
Tanedo, Flip. "Antimatter from Bananas." Symmetry Magazine. 23 July 2009. Web. 19 Feb. 2015. <http://www.symmetrymagazine.org/breaking/2009/07/23/antimatter-from-bananas>.
Walorski, Paul. Physlink.com. Web. 19 Feb. 2015. <http://www.physlink.com/Education/AskExperts/ae159.cfm>.