#noahcollare

We can get relatively close to a complete vacuum however it is completely impossible to have a perfect or complete vacuum. A complete vacuum is defined as an area with absolutely zero particles inside said region of space. So why is this the case? There are two main reasons why we can never reach this.

The first reason is that whatever container you are attempting to make a perfect vacuum must be kept at a constant temperature of zero degrees Kelvin (0°K), also known as absolute zero. If it is not kept at this temperature it will radiate photons from the container, which can, in turn, create electron and positron pairs that can appear inside of the container. Is it possible to reach absolute zero though? The answer is, unfortunately, no, however, we can get really close, about a billionth of a degree Kelvin. Want to know why? Click here to learn more about why we can’t reach absolute zero.

The other main reason why we will never be able to create an absolute perfect vacuum is because of weakly interacting particles, such as the neutrino. No matter how thick the container is there will always be a finite possibility that a neutrino or other particle will and could enter the region. To learn more about neutrinos and other weakly interacting massive particles (WIMP’s) click here.

To the second question, CERN did, in fact, create antimatter all the way back in 1996. They created antimatter that lasted for about 40 billionths of a second before it was annihilated by ordinary matter. To read more about CERN and antimatter click here.

-Admin Mike