Naked Science Forum

Non Life Sciences => Physics, Astronomy & Cosmology => Topic started by: Alan McDougall on 02/07/2008 02:58:26

Title: Matter and Antimatter destructive consequences/ entropy
Post by: Alan McDougall on 02/07/2008 02:58:26
Hello,

When anti-matter and matter collide there is a total release of energy.

In what form is that energy light photons radiation etc.?

How would this effect entropy of that system?

Regards

Alan
Title: Matter and Antimatter destructive consequences/ entropy
Post by: Soul Surfer on 02/07/2008 09:13:26
This is a very interesting question and raises some very fundamental points about how the universe works.

If an electron and its antiparticle a positron collide at low energy all that can be produced is a pair of gamma ray photons that carry away the total energy of the collision. It is important that two gamma rays are produced to conserve momentum.  these gamma rays are in fact a particle anti particle pair because a photon is its own antiparticle.  However if they collide at very high energies a great many different sorts of particle can be created out of absolutely notying other than the two particles and the quantum mechanical vacuum.  Performing these collisions at high energies is one of the ways in which subnuclear particles are studied.

This shows clearly that energy is the most fundamental thing and all matter ccan be created from it given the right conditions.
Title: Matter and Antimatter destructive consequences/ entropy
Post by: Alan McDougall on 02/07/2008 10:20:52
SS,

If I interpret  you correctly the energy released by matter antimatter contact is neutral, the fundamental something  that "drives" the universe for lack of a better word.

Regards

Alan
Title: Matter and Antimatter destructive consequences/ entropy
Post by: Soul Surfer on 02/07/2008 23:37:27
I am not sure what you mean by neutral.

It is true that energy and possibly the structure of space time are the most fundamental things in the universe.  Matter and all the forces that we can measure are just a long lived (but not permanent) expression of the action of this energy.  Even the structure of space time itself may in fact be also just a long lived expression of energy in action.
Title: Matter and Antimatter destructive consequences/ entropy
Post by: Alan McDougall on 03/07/2008 01:45:30
By neutral I mean is the energy produced by matter/antimatter contact anti-energy  or energy as we perceive it on earth. 
Title: Matter and Antimatter destructive consequences/ entropy
Post by: Alan McDougall on 03/07/2008 05:05:09
I seem to have posted an oxymoron, energy must be energy the word anti-energy is non-"sense" non-"science", if you get my drift

The nearest we get to anti-energy would be the state of absolute zero, where nothing could happen