Antimatter (Oxford Landmark Science)

Antimatter by Frank Close, Oxford University Press, 2009, 176 ff.The subatomic particles of matter and antimatterBy Howard JonesThis is another book in the easy-to-read style of Frank Close, Emeritus Fellow in Physics at the University of Oxford . The subject matter is rather more specialised than in his popular science books `The Cosmic Onion' and `Particle Physics', but antimatter is now a part of undergraduate physics courses and is such stuff as sci-fi stories are made of. This book is therefore likely to be of interest to quite a wide readership, despite its specialist subject matter. Non-mathematicians will be relieved to know that the underlying matrix mathematics is confined to a short Appendix.The existence of antimatter was predicted by engineer-turned-physicist Paul Dirac in 1928. It emerged from the combination of quantum mechanics with Einstein's relativity and introduced the concept of states of negative energy. These are unknown in our real world but in the antimatter world, negatives become positives, and vice versa, and the particle property called spin becomes reversed.When matter and antimatter collide, they are both annihilated to produce a huge amount of energy, usually in the gamma ray part of the electromagnetic spectrum. This, and the historical background to the development of antimatter particles, is all described simply and beautifully by Close: I'm sure, even if I weren't a physicist and mathematician with an intrinsic interest in this subject, I would find it elegantly explained. Dirac shared the 1933 Nobel Prize in Physics with Erwin Schrödinger for their respective discoveries in quantum physics. The discovery and exploration of these antimatter particles by teams of competing scientists reads (in Close's treatment) like a `Boys Own' adventure story.This is the most lucid presentation I have read of a tiny corner of particle physics and quantum theory and if you want to know where Dirac's version of quantum theory has led us, I know of no better explanation than in this book.Dr Howard A. Jones is the author of The Thoughtful Guide to God (2006) and The Tao of Holism (2008), both published by O Books of Winchester, U.K.; and The World as Spirit published by Fairhill Publishing, Whitland, West Wales, 2011. The New Cosmic Onion: Quarks and the Nature of the Universe

This is a nice little book about antimatter. Some may ask if one could write a whole book just about antimatter, but Frank Close does it well.The book starts a little bit slow though, carefully explaining what antimatter is. Later it catches on, and the second half of the book is indeed very interesting.The book does not only explain what antimatter is, and how to produce it, but also tells us the full history of how it was first discovered and up till now.Frank Close show us what an important role in the whole world of particles that antimatter plays. The knowledge in this book should be mandatory for all high school students.Finally Frank tell us about the antimatter we see in the movie "Angels and Demons" and the possible role of antimatter in the future use in spaceships.

Loved it. Well written and fascinating read. I have always found Dirac a fascinating character being a physicist who reinvented an entire system of maths just to solve the relativistic version of the quantum wave equation. I didn't know he was also the father of this entire topic.See my review of another of Frank Close's books, simply entitled "Neutrino"

A wonderful book, superbly written about a fascinating subject. Highly recommended if you want to know the truth about an area of science which has occasionally been used to scaremonger.

Very easy book to read for distraction and good knowledge of basic physics concepts.

Interesting, but because of the fundamental nature of the imbalance between matter and anti matter, I would have liked more detail.It's such an important subject.

This book is brilliant for those interested in physics and the universe in general. The author has been able to cover complex topics whilst making it readable, and as an added bonus its the perfect size for commuting.

great

Every concept is understandable and is very intriguing. Explained everything about the anti-particles and also their impossibility of using them for our energy needs.

This book, although short, is highly informative and entertaining.It has quite a decent history telling about antimatter, including a compelling one about the possible antimatter meteor of 1908, Tunguska event.If that wasn't enough, it does introduce concepts of curious, new particles and antimatter usages for the mankind's future.

Everything I've read by Close has been excellent. This is book no exception and I guarantee you'll learn things from him that you haven't learned before. Very well done!

"Antimatter" non vuol essere un libro pretenzioso ed altisonante che si inoltra nei meandri più profondi della Fisica, perchè riesce in poche pagine a rendere flessibili e duttili concetti fisici molto complessi.Anche per coloro che non sono molto pratici con l'inglese, se amano la fisica e tutte le sue sfaccettature, non mancheranno di apprezzare questo piccolo capolavoro, in quanto tutto viene spiegato e dimostrato con una semplicità disarmante.

At 148 pages, Mr. Close has produced a very nice little book on antimatter. It is well written, concise, and articulate, and can quite comfortably be read in just one sitting. To the point throughout, there is no spare or wasted verbiage here. Just a quick "in-and-out" on antimatter. The text contains no math whatsoever. As such, any person with a passing familiarity/interest in astronomy and particle physics will have no trouble reading and completely comprehending this book. (The book probably will be a little uncomfortable at first for readers who do not know what a positron or antiproton is, for example, but I suspect that the average reader of this book will already have a general interest in physics or astronomy such that the level of the book should not intimidate in any way whatsoever.)I particularly appreciated the length to which Mr. Close went to to de-bunk the idea promulgated implicitly in the movie "Angels and Demons" that antimatter explosive devices are just around the corner. Thank God they are not. Also debunked is the possibility that the Tunguska explosion in 1908 was the result of a piece of antimatter colliding with the Earth. Lamentably, Mr. Close also dashes hope for antimatter propulsion to the stars any time soon.All-in-all, if you wanted a short and sweet introduction to antimatter, you'll really enjoy this book.