Our universe began with the Big Bang. How then did the building blocks of matter from which life is eventually formed come into being? And what happened to the antimatter that was also released during the big bang? Physicist Marcel Merk tries to unravel the secrets of the smallest particles and their role in the creation of the universe.
‘Let’s face it,’ and Merk slaps his hand on his desk, ‘why doesn’t my hand go through the desk when I slap it? What is actually happening here? That preoccupied me as a child.’ He explains how matter is made up of atoms. ‘A nucleus surrounded by an electron and ninety-nine point ninety-nine per cent nothing at all. So you actually hit with nothing at nothing. So what happens…?’ He answers himself: ‘Yes, so those are electrical forces caused by electron orbits in those atoms repelling each other. You only feel those when you get close.’ The riddles of the earth. It promises to be an interesting conversation.
Particle accelerators
He has just shown me around Nikhef, the National Institute for Subatomic Physics. Here, at the Science Park, research takes place into the smallest possible, elementary, particles, based on collisions in particle accelerators. This is mostly done in international collaborations. Nikhef’s research projects use measurement equipment that, although often made at the institute itself, is then housed at accelerator facilities such as CERN in Geneva.
Read more on the Oost-Online website (Dutch only): https://oost-online.nl/waarom-is-er-niet-niks/
Source: Oost-Online
