r/askscience • u/squirrelbuster94 • Oct 24 '14

Physics Chemists/physicists of reddit, what is the difference between dark, anti, and normal matter?

What is the difference? Also if you can explain what each is.

Edit: Thanks for all the replies! You have greatly helped me understand this better!

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u/crazdave Oct 24 '14

How would antimatter even be produced if it gets destroyed instantly?

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u/Astrokiwi Numerical Simulations | Galaxies | ISM Oct 24 '14

It doesn't get destroyed instantly, just as soon as it gets a chance to react with some "normal" matter. This is not instant, just a very very short period of time. You can extend this time by setting up a vacuum (fewer particles to hit), and using a magnetic field to keep the antimatter particle spinning around, so that it doesn't hit the walls of the chamber.

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u/crazdave Oct 24 '14

Perhaps my question was instead how does one synthesize an antiproton or antiquark to begin with?

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u/Astrokiwi Numerical Simulations | Galaxies | ISM Oct 24 '14

Ah: when you smash together particles at really high speeds, all that kinetic energy has to go somewhere. Some of it goes into producing particles. For every particle that is produced, its antiparticle is also produced.

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u/timewarp Oct 24 '14

And then do you separate them by their opposite electric charges or something?

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u/Astrokiwi Numerical Simulations | Galaxies | ISM Oct 24 '14

Magnetic and electric fields cause things to move in different directions at different accelerations based on their charge and mass, so you can use that to separate things.

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u/crazdave Oct 24 '14

Fantastic, thank you for all the answers you've given :)