Atoms, Subatomic Particles and Relativity.

"By recognising that the chemical atom is composed of single separable electric quanta, humanity has taken a great step forward in the investigation of the natural world." - Johannes Stark

The title of this post is not about Einstein's relativity, but things which are relative.

The atom; an amazing discovery.

Protons are positive. Neutrons are neutral. Electrons are negative. This is a normal atom.


Anti-protons are negative. Anti-neutrons are still electrically neutral. Positrons are positive. The is an anti-atom.


Inside protons and neutrons are quarks, inside a proton two ups and a down, in a neutron two downs and an up quark. Whereas inside anti-protons and neutrons are anti-quarks, inside an anti-proton is two down and an up quarks, and in a anti-neutron is two ups and a down. An up quark is equal to 2/3, and a down quark is equal to -1/3 so in a neutron it is equal to 0, and in a proton equal to 1. In an anti proton. An antiup (Anti-up quark) has a charge of -2/3 and a antidown has a charge of 1/3. So an anti-nuetron is equal to 0, and an anti-proton is equal to -1.

An anti-atom is the opposite to an atom, we generally call it anti-matter though. Yes, it exists. We've captured anti-hydrogen and kept it for about 16 minutes. Since hydrogen is made up of a proton and electron. An anti-hydrogen is made up of an anti-proton and a positron. As shown in the diagram to the right.


Anti-hydrogen is anti-matter. But how do we know anti-matter, is actually anti? We could be anti-matter and what we say is anti-matter could fine well be matter. Our 'matter' dominant universe is only classed as normal matter as it is what we are used to, anti-matter is the opposite of our matter, so we call it anti-matter.


Will we ever know the true matter?


Probably not. Is there a true matter?


After the Big Bang, and the cool down. There was a war between matter and anti-matter. Matter won, and is now dominant. In another universe, do you think it could be anti-matter dominant? Instead of our matter dominant universe. Even in our universe, could there be anti-planets? A whole planet made up of anti-matter.


This is crazy stuff.


If an atom collided with an anti-atom they would annihilate, creating a lot of energy. So imagine if a planet collided with an anti-planet? A cataclysmic explosion would unfold.


To conclude, do you think we reside in a matter dominant universe? Or an anti-universe? Do you think that in our universe, we could have anti-plantets? Solar systems, or even galaxies? Atoms are amazing things, and so is physics.


Thanks for reading, Ben.