# antimatter
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/antimatter/58240
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [March 16, 2001, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/antimatter/58240 "2001-03-16T16:08:32Z")
**Posts on this page:** 11
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Enola\_Straight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enola_Straight)
#### Post date: [March 16, 2001, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/antimatter/58240/1 "2001-03-16T16:08:32Z")
Does antimatter fall…up?
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### Author:  [@Podkayne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Podkayne)
#### Post date: [March 16, 2001, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/antimatter/58240/2 "2001-03-16T16:31:55Z")
Nope. Sadly, antimatter particles don’t have negative mass. They have the same mass as their matter counterparts. It’s only other qualities (like charge) that are reversed.
That probably tells us something deep about the quest for quantuum gravity, but don’t ask me. I got a B in quantum mechanics.
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### Author:  [@ZenBeam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZenBeam)
#### Post date: [March 16, 2001, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/antimatter/58240/3 "2001-03-16T18:32:25Z")
**enolancooper** , are you referring to an actual measurement? The reason I ask is that some years ago (maybe ten?) a first actual measurement of which way antimatter falls was being planned, but hadn’t happened yet. I never heard whether the measurement ever took place.
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### Author:  [@ZenBeam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZenBeam)
#### Post date: [March 16, 2001, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/antimatter/58240/4 "2001-03-16T18:41:36Z")
I meant to address **Podkayne** in my post above. ☹
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### Author:  [@Podkayne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Podkayne)
#### Post date: [March 16, 2001, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/antimatter/58240/5 "2001-03-16T19:03:32Z")
Er, well, the same theory that predicts that antimatter should have negative charge relative to matter predicts that its mass should be positive. Antimatter is generally produced particle-by-particle, and the particles on their own are subject to magnetic and electric fields that are many orders of magnitude stronger than the force of gravity.
I did some clicking around online and found that [Thomas J. Phillips at Duke](http://www.phy.duke.edu/~phillips/gravity/) is working on making a beam of neutral antimatter atoms, anti-hydrogen, that won’t be deflected by magnetic and electric fields, and fire it horizontally for a long distance and measure the deflection due to gravity.
It would “break” general relativity if it turned out that antimatter=\>antigravity. But that’s what makes it an interesting project, I guess. It’s not an easy experiment to do, so it’ll be interesting to hear if he gets any good results.
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### Author:  [@EnolaStraight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EnolaStraight)
#### Post date: [November 5, 2023, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/antimatter/58240/6 "2023-11-05T04:17:21Z")
Here’s a _really_ old thread of mine on the subject.
[antimatter - Factual Questions - Straight Dope Message Board](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/antimatter/58240)
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### Author:  [@EnolaStraight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EnolaStraight)
#### Post date: [November 5, 2023, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/antimatter/58240/7 "2023-11-05T04:20:45Z")
whoops
wrong thread
never mind and close please.
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### Author:  [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)
#### Post date: [November 5, 2023, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/antimatter/58240/8 "2023-11-05T04:48:14Z")
Are you saying this thread doesn’t matter?
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### Author:  [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)
#### Post date: [November 5, 2023, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/antimatter/58240/9 "2023-11-05T04:57:09Z")
Not to me.
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### Author:  [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)
#### Post date: [November 5, 2023, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/antimatter/58240/10 "2023-11-05T13:17:59Z")
> [@Riemann](#):
>
> Are you saying this thread doesn’t matter?
NM 😉
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### Author:  [@zimaane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zimaane)
#### Post date: [November 6, 2023, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/antimatter/58240/11 "2023-11-06T14:20:49Z")
Here’s a longer thread on this very topic:
[How does gravity react with anti matter? - Factual Questions - Straight Dope Message Board](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-gravity-react-with-anti-matter/778983)