What are the forces applying to antimatter?

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    Antimatter Forces
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Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around the forces acting on antimatter, exploring whether these forces are analogous to those acting on matter or if they differ in some fundamental way. Participants examine concepts related to attraction and repulsion between particles of matter and antimatter, as well as the implications of these interactions.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory
  • Debate/contested
  • Technical explanation

Main Points Raised

  • One participant speculates that forces applying to antimatter might be "flipped," suggesting that positrons and electrons repel each other while positrons and protons attract.
  • Another participant counters that positrons are positively charged and are attracted to electrons, indicating that antimatter behaves similarly to matter in terms of electromagnetic interactions.
  • A participant asserts that antimatter experiences normal gravity, similar to regular matter, and that interactions become complex when antimatter approaches matter.
  • One participant references Dirac and quantum field theory (QFT) as foundational to understanding matter and antimatter interactions.
  • Several participants emphasize that antimatter does not produce anti-gravity effects, reinforcing the idea that gravitational interactions are consistent with those of matter.
  • A later reply acknowledges the confirmation of previously raised points about the forces on antimatter, indicating a shift in the participant's stance.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants generally disagree on the nature of forces acting on antimatter, with some asserting that they behave like matter while others propose alternative views. The discussion remains unresolved regarding the initial speculative claims about "flipped" forces.

Contextual Notes

Some statements rely on assumptions about the nature of forces and the behavior of particles, which may not be universally accepted or fully explored in the discussion.

IooqXpooI
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I don't know if this is true or not, and I have a feeling that it has already been proven otherwise, but I think that the forces applying to antimatter are flipped.

For instance, a positron and an electron would repel, and a positron and a proton would attract(don't mind the inserting of the electron, it was the only negatively charged particle that I could think of that was of the matter family).

If this is so, then two like pairs of different matter families would attract, and also, be quite interesting(so interesting, that this is provably proved wrong due to the fact that I would have heard of it no matter how much I miss the Physics news).

Imagine this- you have a positron on one side of a box, with that side charged positively with matter, so it is attracted, and a proton in the same state on the other(wall charged negatively, etc.). Now imagine that you insert an electron. If you do so, it will be repelled from the Antimatter and attracted with [tex]\frac{kQq}{r^2} + \frac{r^2}{kQq}[/tex] to the proton, due to the repulsion and the skewed logic used by me to find the inverted formula is the Antimatter version(thus stating that they use Reverse Gravity as we use Gravity, etc.).

Soo, evaluate this and try not to give too much criticism, for I know that it is hard to hold back with something like this...;)
 
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Don't read too much into the name anti-matter. Positrons are positively charged and act that way. They are attracted to electrons. Collisions between electrons and positrons are quite common, producing two gamma rays (511 kev).
 
Mathman is correct IMHO. Antimatter acts just like matter until it gets close to matter, then every thing comes unglued. Antimatter has normal gravity, same as regular matter.

Vern
 
Besides all these things on matter and anti-matter come from Dirac and are well covered by QFT, i guess

marlon
 
Anti-matter does not produce anti gravity, just the ordinary attractive version.
 
Chronos said:
Anti-matter does not produce anti gravity, just the ordinary attractive version.
Photons are their own anti-particles, and gravity affects them in the normal way.
 
Yes yes, I know this, but I wasn't sure about the forces applying to them...Well, now that it has been confirmed, you may ignore this theory...;)
 

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