© Prof.dr Jo van den Brand, 2006  – 26
Wat is antimaterie?
e
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e
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Elektronen en positronen annihileren en produceren g-straling (energie)
E = mc2
ŸEnergie en materie zijn equivalent
ŸEnergie kan naar materie getransformeerd worden en vica versa.
The simplest way to describe antimatter is in terms of its behaviour - when particle and antiparticle meet they annihilate and their mass is turned into energy in the form of g-rays, also called photons.
This process is governed by the second and last equation you will see this evening, and surely known to the whole audience - Einstein’s famous equation E=mc2.
Not only is this true for electrons and positrons, it also occurs for quarks and anti-quarks and more complicated objects like protons and anti-protons. You would also be in trouble if you met your anti-you.
However this possibility is still someway off; it was not until 1996 that anti-hydrogen, the simplest anti-atom was produced.