Annihilation of Matter/Antimatter

[D4rthV4D3r]

When anti matter and matter come into contact do they only annihilate each other leaving everything else undisturbed? Or does the resulting energy destroy/tear apart nearby particles?

The reason I ask, assuming that the result is the former, if antimatter were to be harnessed could anti-neutrons be fired at a radioactive element (say Uranium), getting rid of neutrons but leaving the protons undisturbed (so it stays Uranium) until it reaches a stable ratio of protons and neutrons.

I realize this is currently impossible with our means, but in theory could it work? I couldn't find any discussion of this elsewhere on the internet.

 

[tionis]

How much matter-antimatter are we talking about?
Two particles of matter-antimatter won't cause too much fuss.

 

[Drakkith]

When antimatter and matter annihilate, they produce a number of other particles, such as gamma rays. These products of the reaction WILL interact with surrounding material. I would say off the top of my head that no, you could not use antimatter to get rid of single neutrons in an atom without disturbing anything else. How much disturbance you would get I do not know though.

 

[ASD16]

the properties of neutrons and anti-neutrons are different as much as i know...so i doubt that it would work even in theory...

 

[Vanadium 50]

Since Uranium has no stable isotopes, even if you used a magic wand to add or remove neutrons this would not work.

 

[ikkiN]

of course the reaction would produce 2 photons of gamma. since gamma is ionizing radiation, the disturbance is always possible.
but I'm not sure if it possible to annihilate neutron inside radionuclide in this way.

 

[orenrocco]

Okay, first of all what type of Antimatter and what type of matter are you talking about?;what are the charge patterns?

 

[zush]

Uranium has no stable isotopes

Could this system work using both anti-neutrons, and p-bars?

 

[orenrocco]

Yes, but it really depends on what matter you want to make

 

[orenrocco]

May I ask how would you force other matter's charges outward