Re: Does an electron from anti-matter rotate oppisate than matter?

Dear Randy,

Electrons possess two kinds of angular momentum: orbital angular
momentum from their motion around the nucleus, and spin angular momentum
which is an intrinsic property of electrons.  By analogy with the Earth-
Sun system, the Earth possesses orbital angular momentum because it
revolves around the Sun, and the Earth has a spin angular momentum
because the Earth rotates on its own axis.  But you should not carry
this analogy too far; electrons do not spin on their own axes -- they
are pointlike particles with no volume and no internal structure.

You said:
> Let's say all Iron (Fe) electrons rotate clockwise in Iron matter.

This assumption is false.  All electrons in iron do not revolve about
the iron nuclei in the same sense; all electrons in iron do not have
the same spin angular momentum direction.

So what are the properties of anti-electrons (or positrons)?  They have
the same mass as electrons.  They have the opposite charge to electrons.
Positrons have the same spin angular momentum as electrons (hbar/2, 
where hbar is Planck's constant divided by 2pi).  Positrons would have
the same orbital angular momentum as electrons.

In a piece of anti-iron, all the positrons would not revolve about the
anti-nuclei in the same sense; all the positrons would not have the
same spin angular momentum direction.

To learn more about antimatter try this link to CERN, a particle physics
laboratory where they actually make antimatter: http://livefromcern.web.cern.ch/livefromcern/antimatter/


--Randall J. Scalise    http://www.phys.psu.edu/~scalise/