Confused about antimatter and matter

[Pakbabydoll]

opposites..
Matter/ Antimatter
proton/ positron
electron/photon

is that right? So can you tell me there properties? '
thanks

 

[ZapperZ]

opposites..
Matter/ Antimatter
proton/ positron
electron/photon

is that right? So can you tell me there properties? '
thanks

No, you have this all wrong.

The antiparticle of a proton is antiproton
The antiparticle of an electron is a positron.

Please go to the Hyperphysics website to learn some basic ideas on antiparticles

http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/particles/antimatter.html

Zz.

 

[DaveC426913]

Matter/Antimatter
proton/antiproton
electron/positron
photon/photon
Good Kirk/Evil Kirk

Antiprotons are just like protons except they have a negative charge.
Positrons are just like electrons except with a positive charge.
Photons are neutral. You cannot tell from the photons emitted whether it came from matter or antimatter. Thus, light coming to us from distant galaxies does not tell us (at least directly) whether the galaxy is made of matter or antimatter.

 

[Doom of Doom]

How can anti-neutrons be observed?

 

[Astronuc]

How can anti-neutrons be observed?

Particles are known to exist through interactions. An anti-neutron would annihilate a neutron with a meson shower, i.e. + and - mesons, and perhaps neutral pairs, going in various directions.

Neutral particles are unobservable since they do not ionize as charged particles do, although neutrons can knock protons and nuclei about, which can be observed.

 

[technobot]

Matter/Antimatter
Antiprotons are just like protons except they have a negative charge.
Positrons are just like electrons except with a positive charge.

IIRC, there is another property that is different, besides charge, but this difference doesn't usually receive much attention, presumably because the property is not well known to the general public.. Unforetunately, I don't remember what that property was. Anyone cares to freshen my memory - and enlighten the other readers while they're at it?

 

[joshd]

IIRC, there is another property that is different, besides charge, but this difference doesn't usually receive much attention, presumably because the property is not well known to the general public.. Unforetunately, I don't remember what that property was. Anyone cares to freshen my memory - and enlighten the other readers while they're at it?

spin? Isn't that the reason that the charge is different in the first place? (spin = helicity?)

 

[technobot]

spin? Isn't that the reason that the charge is different in the first place? (spin = helicity?)

That was my first thought too, but according to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antiparticle the spin is the same:

In other words, particle and antiparticle must have
* the same mass m
* the same spin state J
* opposite electric charges q and -q.

Plus, if memory serves, it was some more exotic property (or seemed so to me when I read about it somewhere a long time ago), even less well known than spin. Maybe baryon number or some such...

 

[K.J.Healey]

Flavour of their quarks? Delicious. :)