Learn about what antimatter is and how we discovered it. Then, Dr. Gen Gunter will demystify menopause. How we discovered antimatter by Briana Brownell Marco Gersabeck,The Conversation. (2019, March 21). Why Is There More Matter Than Antimatter? Scientific American. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/why-is-there-more-matter-than-antimatter/ Antimatter from bananas. (2015). Symmetry Magazine. https://www.symmetrymagazine.org/2009/07/23/antimatter-from-bananas Dirac’s equation predicts antiparticles | timeline.web.cern.ch. (2021). Cern.ch. https://timeline.web.cern.ch/diracs-equation-predicts-antiparticles Thompson, A. (2017, June 23). In 1928, One Physicist Accidentally Predicted Antimatter. Popular Mechanics; Popular Mechanics. https://www.popularmechanics.com/science/a27049/in-1928-one-physicist-accidentally-predicted-antimatter/ Vidmar, D. (2011). The Dirac equation and the prediction of antimatter. PDF document provided on the internet by the Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul. Additional resources from Dr. Jen Gunter: Pick up "The Menopause Manifesto" from Amazon: https://amzn.to/33dlIYy Website: https://drjengunter.com/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrJenGunter Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DrJGunter/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/drjengunter/ Follow Curiosity Daily on your favorite podcast app to learn something new every day withCody Gough andAshley Hamer — for free!
Learn about what antimatter is and how we discovered it. Then, Dr. Gen Gunter will demystify menopause.
How we discovered antimatter by Briana Brownell
Additional resources from Dr. Jen Gunter:
Follow Curiosity Daily on your favorite podcast app to learn something new every day with Cody Gough and Ashley Hamer — for free!
Find episode transcript here: https://curiosity-daily-4e53644e.simplecast.com/episodes/whats-the-deal-with-hot-flashes-w-ob-gyn-dr-jen-gunter
CODY: Hi! You’re about to get smarter in just a few minutes with Curiosity Daily from curiosity-dot-com. I’m Cody Gough.
ASHLEY: And I’m Ashley Hamer. Today, you’ll learn about what antimatter is and how we discovered it. Then, Dr. Jen Gunter, author of “The Menopause Manifesto” who’s also been called the world’s most famous gynecologist, will bust some myths about menopause.
CODY: Let’s satisfy some curiosity.
In physics, the theories guiding the worlds of the very large and the very small have often been at odds. And many prominent physicists have tried to unite them. In 1928, Paul Dirac [dih-RACK] made an important first step to combine these theories, and his work ended up predicting a completely new kind of material: antimatter. Here’s the weird story of what antimatter is and how we discovered it.
Dirac was known as a very competent mathematician, so when he tried to reconcile quantum theory’s Schroedinger equation with Einstein’s famous E=mc^2 from general relativity, he recognized something interesting was going on in the mathematics. Instead of a single solution, there were two. One solution corresponded to the electron, a particle we’ve known about since the 1800’s. And the other predicted a similar, but so far undiscovered particle. This new particle would have all the same characteristics as the election except for one: it would have a positive charge instead of a negative one.
Yeah: an electron with a positive charge. At the time, it was imaginary. To make his new theory work, Dirac had basically come up with a make-believe particle — or, technically, antiparticle. And this prediction proved to be a feature of Dirac’s new theory, not a bug. Which meant that the theory was falsifiable. So the question became: would someone come up with an experimental observation that disproved the idea, or could physicists find a particle that matched the theory?
So the search for the positron began.
It didn’t take long. Carl Anderson was the first to find one four years later using an experimental setup called a cloud chamber. No, not the room where the main character of Final Fantasy VII sleeps. A cloud chamber is a box filled with supersaturated vapor. When a particle passes through the vapor, it leaves a trail of tiny droplets. Anderson was using a cloud chamber to study cosmic rays, which are high-energy particles that originate from space.
Since the electron and positron are both charged particles, you can put a magnetic field down the middle of the chamber and send the particles to one side or the other. That’s what made the finding so obvious. Since the electron is negatively charged and the positron positively charged, their tracks would be identical, except they would curve the opposite direction.
Both Dirac and Anderson would be awarded Nobel prizes in physics, Dirac in 1933 and Anderson in 1936. Their work created a whole new branch of physics. (No big deal.) It also set off a search for other antimatter particles.
Although antimatter may seem exotic, it can be found in places much closer to home — not just in cosmic rays. Positrons can also be emitted when radioactive elements decay. Radioactive elements like the potassium-40 in your banana. Yeah, that banana you’re having for lunch? It emits one positron every 75 minutes.
Even today, there are still plenty of mysteries about antimatter. While the symmetry of Dirac’s Equation predicts the existence of antimatter, it doesn’t answer another important question: why is there so much more matter compared to antimatter? We don’t know, but scientists are getting closer to the answer. Or maybe the problem is they should be looking for the anti-answer?
There's a big biological change that half the population will experience when they reach a certain age, and most people know barely anything about it. I'm not talking about puberty — I'm talking about menopause. So we're going to shed light on that mystery with the help of today's guest. Dr. Jen Gunter is an OB/GYN and pain medicine specialist who's been called the world’s most famous and outspoken gynecologist. In her new book, "The Menopause Manifesto," Dr. Jen counters stubborn myths and misunderstandings about menopause with hard facts, real science, fascinating historical perspective, and expert advice. We started our conversations with some basics: what is menopause?
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Yeah — it turns out that the human brain is a pretty powerful tool. And if you thought that was interesting, then stick around, because tomorrow, we’ll wrap up our conversation by diving a bit deeper into how menopause affects the brain. Again, that was Dr. Jen Gunter is an OB/GYN and pain medicine specialist who's been called the world’s most famous and outspoken gynecologist. Her new book, "The Menopause Manifesto," just came out yesterday, and you can find a link to pick it up in the show notes.
Let’s recap the main things we learned today
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ASHLEY: The writer for today’s first story was Briana Brownell [bree-ANN-uh brow-NELL].
CODY: Our managing editor is Ashley Hamer, who was also an audio editor on today’s episode.
ASHLEY: Our producer and lead audio editor is Cody Gough.
CODY: Eat a banana split so you can make a joke about how you’re eating positronic ice cream. I would tell you an antimatter joke myself, but… it doesn’t matter. Anyway, join us again tomorrow to learn something new in just a few minutes.
ASHLEY: And until then, stay curious!