John Carlos Baez on Nostr: Finally experiments have proved that antimatter falls down, not up! This is no ...
Finally experiments have proved that antimatter falls down, not up!
This is no surprise: if it worked any other way our theories of physics would have to be completely reworked. But still, it's taken many decades to test this in the lab. It's surprisingly hard to make antihydrogen atoms, drop them, and check that they fall down. So it's great to finally know they do.
The paper is open-access:
• Observation of the effect of gravity on the motion of antimatter, https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-023-06527-1
The next step is to check that gravity pulls on antimatter with exactly the same force as it does on an equal quantity of matter. Of course it will. But still, we should check.
(Yes, I know that in general relativity gravity is not considered a "force". Chill out.)
(1/2)
This is no surprise: if it worked any other way our theories of physics would have to be completely reworked. But still, it's taken many decades to test this in the lab. It's surprisingly hard to make antihydrogen atoms, drop them, and check that they fall down. So it's great to finally know they do.
The paper is open-access:
• Observation of the effect of gravity on the motion of antimatter, https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-023-06527-1
The next step is to check that gravity pulls on antimatter with exactly the same force as it does on an equal quantity of matter. Of course it will. But still, we should check.
(Yes, I know that in general relativity gravity is not considered a "force". Chill out.)
(1/2)