Scientists Race To Prove The Existence Of 'Star Trek' Antimatter

Scientists are developing a test for antigravity that could revolutionise the theory of Physics and change the way we understand the universe

It is the stuff of Star Trek and science fiction, a special force that allows the SS Enterprise to propel between stars without using any fuel at all.

But now scientists believe they may have come one step closer to proving that antimatter – atoms capable of moving against gravity – exist.

Physicists at Cern are using a special magnetic flask at the European particle physics centre to produce and store atoms of antihydrogen, or antimatter.

The Cern team plan to slowly turn off the magnetic field and see if the atoms fall up or down. If they go up, instead of down with gravity, they will have found antimatter and the entire theory of physics could be transformed.

Theories suggest that antimatter can create an anti-gravitational field that repels anything around it, which could be used to propel aircraft without using any fuel or in the type of space travel featured in Star Trek that allows ships to travel between the stars.

Professor Jeffrey Hangst, a lead investigator on the team building the Alpha-2 experiment at Cern, told the Sunday Times: “Put simply, if we put antimatter into a gravitational field like that of the Earth, does it fall upwards or downwards?”

Antimatter is so difficult to investigate because it is thought to explode into energy as soon as it comes into contact with the air, so must be stored in the special container where it is held by a magnetic field.

If the theory is proved, it could provide an explanation for how the universe is expanding when gravity exists and explain the the big bang. According to scientific theories, every type of matter in the universe created after the big bang should have been accompanied by equal amounts of antimatter.

When the corresponding atoms meet they are believed to wipe eachother out.

However scientists believe there are subtle differences between the two types of atom that allowed matter to wipe out antimatter and for the universe to develop.

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