When will humans be able to master and use antimatter?

Modern science believes that just a little bit of antimatter can release huge amounts of energy, which is also considered the most ideal and perfect source of energy.

The reason antimatter is an energy ceiling is because antimatter and positive matter will annihilate each other when they come into contact. In the brief moment when matter and antimatter annihilate, a violent explosion occurs, releasing all the energy of the matter and antimatter superimposed on each other.

That is, the collision of 1 gram of positive matter and 1 gram of antimatter will release all the energy of 2 grams of matter mass. According to the mass-energy equation formula, it can release 1.8^14J (Joules) of energy , equivalent to the energy of 50 million kilowatts of electricity or the explosion of 43,000 tons of TNT.

Antimatter and positive matter will annihilate each other when they come into contact. (Illustration).

If humans wanted to go to Mars now, the chemical fuel consumed by spacecraft would need to be in the tens of millions of tons, while the antimatter energy used would be in the grams.

The cleanest and most efficient energy source that humans have discovered and are trying to use at the present time is nuclear fusion. But the mass-to-energy conversion rate of this process is only seven parts per thousand, not even a fraction of the 100% conversion rate of the reaction between antimatter and positive matter.

Therefore, the annihilation of matter and antimatter is a perfect process of mass and energy conversion, leaving no trace in this world after the conversion, that is, no trace of pollution. If this energy source can be used for human existence and development, then of course it will be the ceiling for energy use.

Antimatter really exists. (Illustration).

So does antimatter exist in this world?

Of course it exists. Scientific research has shown that the various fundamental particles that make up all matter in the world have their antiparticle counterparts. Scientists have been able to produce antimatter in the laboratory, and although this antimatter is currently only at the atomic and subatomic levels, it is enough to prove that antimatter is real.

The so-called antimatter is the opposite of the normal matter in our world , this opposition is not in appearance but in its internal composition. For example, all visible positive matter is made up of atoms, atoms are made up of atomic nuclei and electrons. The protons in the nucleus have a positive charge, while the electrons moving around the nucleus have a negative charge. When the positive and negative are out of balance, matter is electrically neutral, while antimatter has a negative nucleus and positive electrons.

It can only exist in subatomic form. (Illustration).

Today, the world's aerospace industry is developing rapidly, landing on the Moon and Mars has become a reality, but it is still not possible to obtain a gram of antimatter, not even a milligram.

This is because there is so little antimatter in our world that it can only exist in subatomic form . Antimatter particles discovered so far include antihydrogen atoms, positrons, negative protons, anti-alpha particles (antihelium-4), etc. The heaviest antimatter is antihelium-4 . It takes 1.505 trillion particles to have a mass of 1 gram.

Nowadays, these antiparticles are almost all created artificially by consuming huge amounts of energy and the numbers created are measured in units of particles.

Furthermore, preserving antimatter is extremely difficult , because matter is everywhere in our world, and antimatter would be destroyed along with matter as soon as it is created and would not exist for more than a millisecond.

At the moment, scientists are trying to figure out ways to preserve and create the captured antimatter. To do that, scientists need to create at least two conditions that will allow the captured antimatter to stay in this world a little longer.

Those two conditions are:

1. First , we must try to reduce the temperature of these particles to 0.5K, which is minus 272.65 degrees Celsius, extremely close to absolute zero, so that these antiparticles are in a low-energy, slow-moving state.
2. The second is to use the weak magnetism of these particles to create a magnetic trap, also known as a magnetic trap or magnetic bottle, to bind these antiparticles inside without coming into contact with any matter.

Up to now, the total amount of antimatter that scientists have collected is only 15 nanograms. (Illustration photo).

However, with current human technology, it is not possible to meet both of these conditions. Because this technology is very difficult, it is extremely difficult to store these particles in magnetic traps for a long time. Scientists have worked hard for decades, and the storage time of antiparticles is difficult to extend. And the maximum storage time at the present time can only meet some research needs.

Scientists around the world have used enormous resources and spent countless money on research for decades, but the total amount of antimatter they have obtained is only 15 nanograms.

Humanity's current technology can only use the Large Hadron Collider to create antimatter particles. According to scientific calculations, it would take a Large Hadron Collider colliding for a thousand years to create one microgram of antimatter.

So, until there is a breakthrough in existing theories and technologies, the prospect of humanity using antimatter can only be a dream and cannot become a reality .

The prospect of humanity using antimatter can only be a dream. (Illustration photo).