Antimatter belt around Earth discovered by Pamela craft \t\t \t\t The antiprotons lie sandwiched between the inner and outer Van Allen belts (in red) around the Earth \t \t\t A thin band of antimatter particles called antiprotons enveloping the Earth has been spotted for the first time. The find, described in Astrophysical Journal Letters, confirms theoretical work that predicted the Earth's magnetic field could trap antimatter. The team says a small number of antiprotons lie between the Van Allen belts of trapped "normal" matter. The researchers say there may be enough to implement a scheme using antimatter to fuel future spacecraft. The antiprotons were spotted by the Pamela satellite (an acronym for Payload for Antimatter Matter Exploration and Light-nuclei Astrophysics) - launched in 2006 to study the nature of high-energy particles from the Sun and from beyond our Solar System - so-called cosmic rays. These cosmic ray particles can slam into molecules that make up the Earth's atmosphere, creating showers of particles. Many of the cosmic ray particles or these "daughter" particles they create are caught in the Van Allen belts, doughnut-shaped regions where the Earth's magnetic field traps them. Among Pamela's goals was to specifically look for small numbers of antimatter particles among the far more abundant normal matter particles such as protons and the nuclei of helium atoms. 'Abundant source' \t The new analysis, described in an online preprint, shows that when Pamela passes through a region called the South Atlantic Anomaly, it sees thousands of times more antiprotons than are expected to come from normal particle decays, or from elsewhere in the cosmos. Antiprotons "annihiliate" if they come into contact with normal protons The team says that this is evidence that bands of antiprotons, analogous to the Van Allen belts, hold the antiprotons in place - at least until they encounter the normal matter of the atmosphere, when they "annihiliate" in a flash of light. The band is "the most abundant source of antiprotons near the Earth", said Alessandro Bruno of the University of Bari, a co-author of the work. "Trapped antiprotons can be lost in the interactions with atmospheric constituents, especially at low altitudes where the annihilation becomes the main loss mechanism," he told BBC News. "Above altitudes of several hundred kilometres, the loss rate is significantly lower, allowing a large supply of antiprotons to be produced." Dr Bruno said that, aside from confirming theoretical work that had long predicted the existence of these antimatter bands, the particles could also prove to be a novel fuel source for future spacecraft - an idea explored in a report for Nasa's Institute for Advanced Concepts.
If that was the case wouldnt we be seeing explosions fucking everywhere? I mean doesnt shit hit the fan when anti-matter meets matter? Or am i mistaken?
Anti matter is a bunch of bull, in my opinion. It's completely theorized. There's no concrete evidence of it's existence. "Researchers found" or "researchers say" that it exists. That only means that somewhere, somehow, someone came up with a mathematical model that suggests it's existence. Just as one could probably come up with a mathematical model that suggests about anything.
[quote name='MelT']Antimatter belt around Earth discovered by Pamela craft QUOTE] Good article melt. I enjoyed it
ppl dont know what the fuck they're talking about...one decade its this...the next decade its that....once the world was flat...hahaha.....cant we just let reality be and exist peacefully within it without trying to decipher the ways of the universe?
What's wrong with curiosity? it's part of our biological makeup.. With your logic, you wouldn't be typing a reply through your fancy PC/Laptop onto the incredible network known as the internet.
No. The antimatter and matter follow the field lines of the Earth's magnetic field. They just circulate in their own areas and don't come into contact much. If they did, there would be annihilation reactions everywhere.
Might as well slap Paul Dirac right in the face... and any other mathematical physicist for that matter.
a little confused as well. Ud think that since in our solar system theres a shit ton of matter floating whether it be particles or tiny asteroids or what not. that all the anti matter would have already exploded by now.
I imagine the Earth's fields keep that antimatter from interacting with such particles. I honestly don't know the physics behind it, but that would be my only speculation. The physicist that originated with the idea that the Earth is holding antimatter would explain to you why that would work (or someone familiar with him, truth be told, I didn't even know that was theorized) ....And who knows the gravitational effect on antimatter
The same as regular matter. The difference between matter and antimatter lies in their electric charge, not their mass. Anything with a positive, real number for its mass with interact with gravity just like any other regular object. If an object had negative mass, theoretically it would repel instead of attract. We don't really know if objects with negative mass exist. There is a particle that has been theorized to exist called the Tachyon. It moves faster than the speed of light. If you plug in a velocity greater than c into the equation for mass, you end up getting an imaginary number. So in theory, objects with imaginary mass would move faster than the speed of light. Who knows how they would interact with gravity?
The article in the OP says Earth's magnetic field has the ability to trap antimatter. Here's another article: DailyTech - Earth's Dirty Secret: Our Magnetic Field Traps Antimatter
Don't you need a negative to compare a positive? Maybe Matter and anti-matter share magnetic characteristics, and are constantly being pushed away from each other.
Yes, they have opposite electrical charges. Or maybe positive charges repel positive charges, whether it's regular matter or antimatter....