Underground Lab Probes How Matter Licked Antimatter
A question which has long puzzled scientists is: why is there more matter in our universe than antimatter? According to prevailing scientific theory, matter and antimatter were present in equal amounts at the start of the universe, however 2 seconds after the Big-Bang, something caused normal matter to exist in greater quantities than regular matter. (Anti matter is basically matter's opposite - protons have a charge of -1 and electrons have a charge of +1. When matter and antimatter come into contact with each other, they annihilate, a process in which a tremendous amounts of energy is released and could be used for very efficient power generation.) Inside the Department of Energy's Waste Isolation Pilot Plant near Carlsbad, New Mexico, (an abandoned salt mine used for storing nuclear waste), Stanford researchers have built what they call the Enriched Xenon Observatory 200. The sensor is designed to track the behavior of neutrinos (elementary particles that travel close to the speed of light, lack an electric charge, are able to pass through ordinary matter almost undisturbed). It is hypothesized that neutrinos may not have antiparticles (equivalents made of antimatter) and therefore might hold clues to the fate of antimatter. [Read: Wired Science]
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2 comments:
WIPP isn't and has never been an abandoned salt mine... it was designed and constructed to be an underground nuclear waste repository. There are some unused portions of the repository that were initially excavated to better understand the physical properties of salt back in the '80's, but were never intended to serve as disposal areas. These are the areas currently being used for the neutrino research. And no, waste isn't stored underground - it's disposed underground... big difference.
1. quick and to the point
2. interesting topic
3. well organized information
1. Could have given more detail about antimatter
2. Some facts may have been wrong as anonymous said
1. I learned that antimatter is composed of -1 protons etc... very interesting
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