Tuesday 20 March 2012

Atom of antimatter was measured for the first time!

A team from the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) announced that the first time in history, measured some properties of atoms of antimatter, reports the site, "Live Science". In the experiment, "ALPHA" at CERN, scientists were able to measure anti-hydrogen atom - the simplest antimatter atom and hydrogen antipodes.

It is a "modest measurement," said the scientists, but also add to what others close to discovering the secrets of antimatter.

The researchers compared the characteristics of hydrogen atoms and anti-hydrogen and found that they are very similar. However, precise comparisons are yet to come, and scientists hope that this will better understand the nature of antimatter.

"We live in a universe that is the highest percentage consists of matter, but at the time of the Big Bang, matter and antimatter are likely to exist in the same amount. The mystery is what antimatter is now almost completely disappeared, leading to the conclusion that nature is still given a slight advantage over the matter, antimatter. If we can anti-hydrogen studied in detail, as these results suggest, we can get a powerful tool to explore the advantages of matter, "said the report.

Hydrogen atoms are the simplest in the universe and are believed to have formed during the Big Bang when the universe.

In the experiment, "ALPHA" scientists in June last year, finally managed to "capture" atoms anti-hydrogen and "keep them alive" and to fifteen minutes. It's outstanding achievement, considering that the atoms of antimatter disappear after a fraction of a second when touching the matter.

Antimatter is made up of elementary antiparticles, which have the same mass as the elementary particles that constitute matter. When touched, antimatter and matter, and cancel one another creating pure energy.

The report of the discovery was published in the scientific journal "Nature."

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