Through The Looking Glass

There IS a way to tell that Adanacia is an antimatter world, but it involves a couple of new

ideas…

There IS a way to tell that Adanacia is an antimatter world, but it involves a couple of new

ideas…

In the lesson “Medicine: The Next Generation”, you learned how some unstable nuclei become stable by

emitting positrons.

There are other unstable nuclei that emit electrons in order to become stable…

One example of these is Cobalt-60. This nucleus contains 27 protons and 33 neutrons. When the nucleus decays, it produces an electron and an antineutrino. The nucleus

that remains is stable and is called Nickel-60:

Cobalt-60

Nickel-60 + +

Co-60

Ni-60 + e− −ν+

Click here for extra information about this decay:

Nuclei have another property call “spin”. This property is a property of particles that has no analogue in our everyday experience. A full explanation of this property goes well

beyond the scope of this module, but for our purposes we can imagine that a nucleus “spins” in the way you are familiar with:

…in the manner of spinning top.

We have mentioned this property because most of the electrons emitted

when a Cobalt-60 nucleus decays are emitted in a particular direction. If we look at Cobalt-60 spinning in the direction shown here:

Co-60

We have mentioned this property because most of the electrons emitted

when a Cobalt-60 nucleus decays are emitted in a particular direction. If we look at Cobalt-60 spinning in the direction shown here:

…then most of the electrons will be emitted directly upwards.

Co-60

We have mentioned this property because most of the electrons emitted

when a Cobalt-60 nucleus decays are emitted in a particular direction. If we look at Cobalt-60 spinning in the direction shown here:

Now, in an antimatter world, instead of Cobalt-60, they would have what we would call anti-Cobalt-60:

anti-Cobalt-60

anti-Cobalt-60

When anti-Cobalt-60 decays, the ANTIMATTER TWINS of the particles formed in the decay of Cobalt-60 are produced instead…

anti-Nickel

-60 + +anti-

Cobalt-60

anti-Co-60

anti-Ni-60

+ e+ ν+

Click here for extra information about this decay:

Now, in an antimatter world, instead of Cobalt-60, they would have what we would call anti-Cobalt-60:

Not only that, but if we look at anti-Cobalt-60 spinning in the direction shown here:

Anti-Co-60

Not only that, but if we look at anti-Cobalt-60 spinning in the direction shown here:

…then most of the positrons will be emitted directly downwards.

Anti-Co-60

So here’s what you could ask the Adanacians to do:

Tell them to take the nucleus on their planet with 27 protons and 33 neutrons (remember, they do not refer to the “matter” on their planet

as “antimatter”)and to orient this nucleus in such a way that the particles that are

emitted are directed upwards (i.e., directly away from their planet):

So here’s what you could ask the Adanacians to do:

Tell them to take the nucleus on their planet with 27 protons and 33 neutrons (remember, they do not refer to the “matter” on their planet

as “antimatter”)and to orient this nucleus in such a way that the particles that are

emitted are directed upwards (i.e., directly away from their planet):

We then take a look to see the direction that the nucleus is spinning in.

We then take a look to see the direction that the nucleus is spinning in.

If we see that it is spinning like this…

We then take a look to see the direction that the nucleus is spinning in.

…then that nucleus is made of antimatter.

Anti-Co-60

We then take a look to see the direction that the nucleus is spinning in.

…then that nucleus is made of antimatter.

In our MATERIAL world:

Co-60

In our MATERIAL world:

This will occur…

Co-60

Co-60

In our MATERIAL world:

This will occur… but this will not.

Co-60

Co-60

In our MATERIAL world:

This will occur… but this will not.

In the ANTI-MATERIAL world:

Co-60

Co-60

Anti-Co-60

In our MATERIAL world:

This will occur… but this will not.

In the ANTI-MATERIAL world:

This will NOT occur…

Co-60

Anti-Co-60

Co-60

Anti-Co-60

In our MATERIAL world:

This will occur… but this will not.

In the ANTI-MATERIAL world:

This will NOT occur… but this WILL.

ANTIMATTER IS OFTEN CALLED “THE MIRROR IMAGE OF MATTER”.

Hey,lookin’ good!

Hey,lookin’ good!

ANTIMATTER IS OFTEN CALLED “THE MIRROR IMAGE OF MATTER”.

BUT WHAT DOES IT REALLY MEAN WHEN WE SAY THIS?

LOOK AT THE DIAGRAM ON THE RIGHT.

SEE IF YOU CAN DETERMINE HOW THE METHOD USED TO

CONFIRM THAT ADANACIA WAS AN ANTIMATTER WORLD AND THIS DIAGRAM ARE RELATED

TO EACH OTHER.

DOES THE DIAGRAM JUSTIFY CALLING ANTIMATTER THE

“MIRROR IMAGE” OF MATTER?

IF SO, WHAT DOES THIS “MIRROR” ACTUALLY

“REFLECT”?

FEYNMAN MIRROR COMPANY