I know that if an electron collides with its antiparticle, the positron, they annihilate each other and energy is released. But what happens if an electron collides with other antimatter that is not its antiparticle, like an antiproton or an antineutron? Do they annihilate each other too?
I didn’t even know that neutrons have an antiparticle. TIL
Edit: neurons -> neutrons
The opposite of a neuron is a maga.
if we’re really getting down to brass tacks, it’s more that you can put together an up antiquark and two down antiquarks to make an antineutron
Lol, but, for other readers, charge isn’t the only property that has an anti-component when making up anti matter.
Positrons are just the most easily explained and are what people are probably most familiar with.
Saying “electron but with a positive charge” satisfies the curiosity of most people who are smart enough to ask the question but don’t want to write a dissertation.
Plus, PET scanners take advantage of positron/electron annihilation to do their imaging, and that happens all over the world every day.
Which is kinda weird because where else in the world but medical imaging are regular people confronted with actual modern physics. Sure, semiconductors, but they don’t actually have to confront that.
Anyway, I do prefer to say “magic” rather than explain how an MRI works for a lot of people.
Any composite particle can have an antiparticle counterpart if you replace all of its constituent particles with antiparticles (e.g. anti- up and down quarks in the case of protons and neutrons).
Opposite of 0? -0.