Can antimatter be used to destroy matter?

Question

Yes that's also how I know but matter is not about the charge. When two opposite charged matter come into contact, they could become neutral, but that's all. Still, if it is true, then what would happen to neutrons?

Answer 1

Yes.  Not only "can" but "is"!    Releases gobs of energy when they do it, too.

Answer 2

It is about the charges. An electron is matter with a negative charge, its antimatter counterpart is a positron, it has the same mass but an opposite charge, they destroy each other in a burst of gamma rays. A neutron has no charge.

Answer 3

yes, antimatter consists of Positrons, which are exactly like electrons, just charged opposite, and anti-protons, which are exactly like protons just charged opposite. If a positron and an electon come into contact with each other, they both destroy each other, and create large amounts of energy.

Answer 4

Yes...

when antimatter and matter come into contact they annihilate ie. destroy each other and energy is released according to eqn. E=MC^2

Answer 5

When matter and antimatter annhilate, they disappear and some other particle is produced.  Most annhilations are electromagnetic, so the particle is a photon which picks up all the energy from the original particles.

To understand the difference between a neutron and an anti-neutron, you have to look at the quarks.  A neutron has two downs (-1/3 charge) and an up (+2/3).  An anti-neutron has two anti-downs (+1/3) and an anti-up (-2/3).  And the electromagnetic charge isn't the only charge.  The quarks also have a strong charge (we call it color) that's opposite in the anti-quarks.  So they can annhilate strongly into a gluon as well as electromagnetically into a photon.

Also, there are other "charges" still that have to be conserved.  Neutrinos, for instance, have no EM charge or color, but have a weak charge that is opposite in anti-neutrinos.  So neutrinos could, in principle, annhilate weakly into a virtual Z that could decay into a pair of something else.