The Perfect Storm

Abstract

Where did it all go? Scientists have become better and better at exploring the far reaches of the universe, but remain puzzled by one question: according to theory, there should be an equal quantity of matter and antimatter in the universe, produced when the universe was born, some 13.6 billion years ago. But they can’t find antimatter in space, they only find matter, the stuff we see and touch and feel, made of positively charged protons, negatively charged electrons and so forth. Antimatter, simplistically put, is the same but with the charges inverted, antiprotons, anti-electrons and so on. This is crucial not just because it keeps scientists awake at night but because when matter and antimatter meet the two instantly annihilate each other and 100 per cent of their mass becomes energy. There are only two things you need to remember from Albert Einstein’s famous formula E = mc² — that, basically, mass and energy are the same thing and that ‘c’, the speed of light, is a very very large number, which means a tiny amount of matter is equivalent to a huge amount of energy. The hydrogen bomb, which uses the same fusion process as happens continuously in the sun, liberates only 1 per cent of the energy contained in matter when it detonates.