NEGATIVE matter is a hypothetical form of matter whose mass is opposite in sign to normal positive matter. It is not antimatter, which is ‘anti-‘ in its elementary particle properties, not its mass. Negative matter could exist somewhere in the Universe: modern theories of matter and energy do not forbid its existence, but if negative matter were to exist, its behaviour would be very strange.
Just how strange would it be? Detailed analyses according to the known laws of physics show that the gravitational field of an object made of negative matter would cause all other objects, including those made of negative matter, to move away from it, while the gravitational field of an object made of positive matter would cause all other objects, including those made of negative matter, to move towards it.
This leads to the unbelievable result shown in Figure 1. If we take a ball of negative matter with a negative mass -M and place it near a rocket ship with a positive mass +M of equal magnitude, then the negative mass will repel the positive mass, while the positive mass will attract the negative mass. According to Newton’s laws of motion, the rocket ship and the ball of negative matter will go off in the same direction with an acceleration equal to the force of gravity between them. This truly miraculous ‘negmatter’ reactionless space-drive provides an unlimited amount of unidirectional acceleration without requiring either an energy source or a reaction mass. It is also easy to imagine machines that could use negative matter to provide unlimited amounts of free energy.
At first glance, these results…
