Antimatter explores a strange mirror world, where
particles have identical yet opposite properties to
those that make up the familiar matter we encounter
everyday; where left becomes right, positive becomes
negative; and where, should matter and antimatter meet,
the two annihilate in a blinding flash of energy that
makes even thermonuclear explosions look feeble by
comparison. It is an idea long beloved of
science-fiction stories - but here, renowned science
writer Frank Close shows that the reality of antimatter
is even more fascinating than the fiction itself. We
know that once, antimatter and matter existed in perfect
counterbalance, and that antimatter then perpetrated a
vanishing act on a cosmic scale that remains one of the
greatest mysteries of the universe. Today, antimatter
does not exist normally, at least on Earth, but we know
that it is real for scientists are now able to make
small pieces of it in particle accelerators, such as
that at CERN in Geneva.Looking at the remarkable
prediction of antimatter and how it grew from the
meeting point of relativity and quantum theory in the
early 20th century, at the discovery of the first
antiparticles, at cosmic rays, annihilation, antimatter
bombs, and antiworlds, Close separates the facts from
the fiction about antimatter, and explains how its
existence can give us profound clues about the origins
and structure of the universe. |
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