# Conversion of energy to matter or antimatter?

1. We all know that matter converts into energy, but will energy convert into matter?

2. Does it form antimatter by converting? Illustrate me with example.

• The first question is a duplicate of this question. Aug 9 '14 at 3:03
• Also a duplicate of this question. Dec 29 '14 at 22:43

## 2 Answers

Yes energy will convert into matter, this happens in particle accelerators a high amount of energy is pumped into a particle and then when it collides with another one, it will form new particles from the energy. Antimatter can also be formed in these high energy collisions such as when a muon is created and after about 2 micro seconds the muon decays into an electron, a muon neutrino and a muon anti-neutrino

• But when the muon is formed, is an anti-muon formed as well? Nov 27 '14 at 7:19
• @JoshuaLin: the short answer is yes. The longer answer is that any reaction which doesn't break the conservation laws for the force involved is allowed. The major laws involved in $\gamma \to \mu\bar{\mu}$ are conservation of lepton number and electric charge (although energy, momentum etc have a role as well). Dec 29 '14 at 22:44

In fact, the pair production describes that energy can be converted into both mater and antimatter through photon over or equal to a threshold of 1.02 MeV. Since Albert Einstein’s infamous equation, E = mc^2 tells us that matter and energy is interchangeable so if matter can become energy, then energy can become matter. I am actually doing a research project based on this, although I would need a lab to experiment on this idea.