Antimatter and humans: Research

 This article is created on the basis of autonomous research conducted by the union of thinkers during August to September of 2024. And may contain errors.

Introduction

For millions of years, humans have been wandering to understand how to use energy, and more importantly, where to obtain them. We have settled over many ways to obtain energy, but the best we ever did was combust particles. This method was socially acceptable, economical and stable. Soon, we realized this had its own cons. It can cause global warming and many other issues. Also, the energy created was not efficient, in fact, the most prominent was coal, with the efficiency of 33%, and it is not so good.

But on the way, humans had found some better alternatives like solar, hydraulic and wind power. But they all had their own setbacks.

1. Solar
1. Most commercially available solar panels are only 23% efficient at most.
2. It will reduce in efficiency when there's no direct sunlight.
3. It will reduce efficiency when the heat is extremely high.
4. It is not stackable; it takes up land cover and takes up agricultural land.
2. Wind
1. Most wind turbines are massive and can cost so much on assembly and transport due to its short lifespan.
2. Typical lifespan is only 20 years.
3. Requires large quantities of metals and the cost to mold them into blades
4. The theoretical maximum efficiency is 59% according to Betz Limit, but practical efficiency can range from 20 - 40%.
3. Hydroelectricity
1. They are really efficient and is good at converting up to 90% of water's energy into electricity.
2. This requires the usage of 'dams' they can restrict natural flow of rivers and fragment river systems, reducing the number of free-flowing rivers
3. Fish can be drawn into the power plant intake flow, where they can experience physical stresses that may cause injury, disorientation, or death.
4. Foreign articles may enter the motors causing destruction to the blades.

But what now? Well, scientists say that there's this newly found thing called 'Antimatter'. Simply put, antimatter is the opposite of matter. It's a form of matter composed of antiparticles, which are the counterparts of ordinary matter particles. Where protons become antiprotons, electrons become positrons, and so on.

Antimatter is the definition of weirdness; Antiparticles have the opposite electric charge of their corresponding matter particles. For instance, a positron, the antiparticle of an electron, has a positive charge. Antiparticles have the same mass as their matter counterparts. But when a matter particle encounters its antiparticle, they annihilate, releasing a burst of energy in the form of photons.

But, even though its weirdness, and its ability to break the fundamental principles of our understanding of how the universe works, we still use it for some activities.

In medicine, Positron emission tomography (PET) scans use a radioactive isotope that emits positrons to diagnose diseases.