Basics
What is the term for material made of antiparticles that have the exact same mass as normal matter but opposite charges?
Antimatter.
What is the name of the stable, negatively charged particle that forms the outer shells of regular atoms?
The electron.
What is the name of the process where energy transforms into physical mass, producing an electron-positron pair? (big hint in the wording)
Pair production.
$E=mc^2$, what does each term mean, and what role do they play
c = speed of light (conversion factor)
E = energy (one of the converts)
m = mass (one of the converts)
What percentage of mass is successfully turned into pure energy during antimatter annihilation?
100%.
What is the specific name for the event that happens when a matter particle meets its antimatter counterpart and they destroy each other
Annihilation.
What is the name of the electron's antiparticle, which carries a positive charge?
The positron.
In pair production, what type of high-energy light photon transforms into the electron-positron pair? MYP students focus!
A gamma ray.
Why does a tiny, microscopic amount of mass contain such a staggering, massive amount of energy?
Because the conversion factor ($c^2$) is unimaginably large.
Nuclear fusion (the process that powers the sun) only converts about what percentage of its mass into energy?
About 0.7%.
According to Einstein's equation $E=mc^2$, mass isn't a separate thing from energy. Instead, mass is what kind of energy?
Concentrated (or confined / locked) energy.
What is the electric charge value, mass and spin of a positron relative to electron?
Positive one, same spin, same mass
To create an electron and a positron, a photon must have a minimum threshold energy equal to what?
The combined rest mass of both particles (approx. $1.022 MeV$).
In ordinary matter, most of the mass doesn't come from the particles themselves, but from what type of energy holding them together?
Binding energy.
According to the laws of physics, what massive event at the beginning of time should have created equal amounts of matter and antimatter?
The Big Bang.
Name one natural phenomenon mentioned where antimatter is created on Earth or in space.
Cosmic ray collisions (or radioactive decay)
What can the distance between electron and nucleus be compared to?
Solar system
How does mass and energy get conserved?
What core quantum principle explains how solid, physical particles can seamlessly transform into waves of light energy? (hint: think quantum physics)
Wave-particle duality.
If the Big Bang created equal amounts of matter and antimatter, they should have completely wiped each other out, leaving a universe filled only with what?
Light (or radiation / photons).
Humans create antimatter artificially by smashing particles together at near-light speeds using what kind of machines?
Particle accelerators
Before they completely destroy each other, an electron and a positron can briefly orbit one another to form an exotic, short-lived "atom" called what?(Good luck!)
Positronium.
Because momentum and energy must be saved during a low-energy annihilation, the resulting twin photons must travel in what physical direction relative to each other?
Opposite directions (or 180 degrees apart).
Does e = mc2 align with other physics laws? and why?
Yes and no!
if objects going fast, does now align with newtons
if objects at everyday speeds, does align with newton
What major unsolved mystery are scientists trying to solve by studying antimatter in labs like CERN?
Why the universe is made almost entirely of regular matter today (or why there is a matter-antimatter imbalance).