In 1928
Paul Dirac wrote an equation (
the Dirac Equation) that combined
special relativity and
quantum theory to describe particles moving at high speeds, winning him a
Nobel Prize. It suggested that for every particle with a positive charge (the kind we're used to), there exists another particle with a negative charge, called an
antiparticle. These pairs of particles are
the same but with opposite charges.
These
antiparticles, or antimatter were discovered in the
1930s and are continuing to be studied and even produced today. Antimatter can be created by smashing two particles together in a machine called a
particle accelerator such as the ones at
CERN. Scientists at CERN have created 50,000
antihydrogen atoms. The study of antimatter will reach a new level upon the completion of CERN's
Large Hadron Collider (or
LHC) to be completed in 2007.
Antimatter releases energy with 100 percent efficiency versus much less efficient forms of energy production like
nuclear fission. Although a long way from being harnessed as an energy source,
the implications of creating energy from antimatter are intriguing. It could lead to
the world's most efficient source of energy or
the world's most destructive weapon. Because antimatter by nature is difficult to produce and store it remains to be seen if it will ever be a practical source of energy. In any case, it will be interesting to see what comes of the antimatter experiments when the LHC at CERN is completed.