antimatter

Definition

Matter that is composed of the antiparticles of those that constitute normal matter.

Etymology

From anti- + matter. Coined by British physicist Arthur Schuster in 1898 to describe matter that resists gravity in a jocular article in Nature titled "Potential Matter.—A Holiday Dream", but not used in a modern sense until the 1940s.

Example Sentences

• "But most theories predict that equal amounts of matter and antimatter should have been produced during the big bang, and the mystery of what happened to all the antimatter is a central question in fundamental physics."
• "Particles of matter and antimatter are identical, except for an opposite electrical charge. An electron has a negative charge whereas its antiparticle, the positron, has a positive charge, and both have an identical mass."

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