Can energy produce matter?

Question

Can energy produce matter?

Answer 1

Dirac's "HOLE THEORY" gives the principle. Pair production is the process.

DIRAC theorised that when sufficient energy is imparted to matter in the negative state, the matter transcends unknown barriers and come to existence in the positive state leaving a void in the negative state.

In the Anderson Experiment, a Gamma ray of 2MEV (million electron volts) energy was focused on an aluminum foil target and two particles were created, an electron and a positron. The energy equivalent of each of these particles is 0.511 MEV. This is called pair production.

When an electron and a positron collide, they annihilate each other to nothingness and in the process release the energy that created them; a 1.022MEV Gamma ray.

Answer 2

maybe. but I think no because energy itself cannot produce matter unless it has certain materials to create a certain form of matter. Based on the famous equation e=mc^2, energy can produce matter. But in reality, im not sure

Answer 3

According to E=MC2, yes. But in reality, it is only done at a minimal scale at the CERN and Fermilab particle accelerators. I don't think you'll get it to work in your mom's kitchen, though! :-)

Answer 4

As stated, E=mc^2 means that energy and mass are equal. But it takes a heck of a lot of energy to create a very tiny amount of matter. But it happens all the time in supernovae, where energy is added to hydrogen and helium to create heavier atoms, such as gold, silver, lead, etc.

Answer 5

I asked this same question several months ago, thinking I must have slept through the physics lecture that would have addressed that point.  But no, It just never came up and I never thought to ask the question.   The answer appears to be yes, but only in the conditions present during the first instants of the big bang.  Then energy somehow forms both matter and antimatter.  There was a very slight imbalance in the amounts: perhaps 1/10,000 more matter.  The matter and antimatter promptly annihilated each other, returning to energy.  All that remained was the "tiny" fraction of matter.  From that remnant the universe formed.