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The Storms That Create Antimatter Above Our Heads | Full Documentary

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hat if thunderstorms could create antimatter?

Far above ordinary lightning, powerful thunderstorms can produce some of the most energetic phenomena ever detected from Earth.

These events are called terrestrial gamma-ray flashes, or TGFs.

They last only fractions of a second, but they can produce intense bursts of gamma radiation and accelerate particles to extraordinary energies.

The Storms That Create Antimatter Above Our Heads explores the strange physics happening inside and above thunderstorms, where electric fields can accelerate electrons to near-light speeds.

When these energetic electrons interact with the atmosphere, they can generate gamma rays powerful enough to trigger the production of electron-positron pairs.

The positron is the antimatter counterpart of the electron.

For a brief moment, a thunderstorm can therefore produce antimatter high above the Earth's surface.

The phenomenon is difficult to observe because these flashes are incredibly short-lived and occur far above the ground.

Scientists have detected them using satellites and specialized instruments designed to observe high-energy radiation from space.

The discovery changed how researchers think about thunderstorms.

A storm isn't simply a cloud producing rain and lightning.

It can act as a gigantic natural particle accelerator.

The same atmosphere that protects life from much of the universe's high-energy radiation can also generate incredibly energetic particles under the right conditions.

And thunderstorms may be capable of producing even stranger effects.

Some observations suggest that high-energy particles associated with thunderstorms can create beams of antimatter that travel downward toward Earth.

The amounts are tiny and pose no practical threat to people on the ground.

But the physics is extraordinary.

A familiar summer storm can briefly become a high-energy laboratory in the sky.

The next time lightning flashes above you, remember that there may be far more happening inside that storm than meets the eye.

The Storms That Create Antimatter Above Our Heads.

A journey into terrestrial gamma-ray flashes, lightning physics, particle acceleration, antimatter, gamma radiation, and the extreme science taking place inside Earth's thunderstorms.

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#Antimatter #Thunderstorms #Lightning #GammaRays #TerrestrialGammaRayFlashes #ParticlePhysics #SpaceScience #Physics #EarthScience #ScienceDocumentary #LightningScience #ParticleAcceleration #STEM #ScienceExplained #SoundAroundUs

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The Storms That Create Antimatter Above Our Heads | Full Documentary

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