positron

noun

pos·i·tron ˈpä-zə-ˌträn

: a positively charged particle having the same mass and magnitude of charge as the electron and constituting the antiparticle of the electron

called also antielectron

Examples of positron in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web Beams of energy collide with atoms in Earth’s upper atmosphere, spawning charged subatomic particles like pions, muons, electrons, and positrons, whose ionized trails show up as spindly lines in cloud chambers. —

Bill Gourgey, Popular Science, 23 Nov. 2023 Two years later Carl Anderson, of the California Institute of Technology, detected positrons in cosmic ray showers, a discovery that earned him a Nobel Prize in Physics. —

Dennis Overbye, New York Times, 27 Sep. 2023 As early as the 1960s, physicists first thought about measuring gravity’s effects on positrons, or anti-electrons, which have positive rather than negative electric charge. —

Rahul Rao, Popular Science, 27 Sep. 2023 One was a study using positron emission tomography — PET scans — that showed different areas of the brain were associated with each form of memory. —

Michael S. Rosenwald, Washington Post, 3 Oct. 2023 The positron discovered by Paul Dirac had a mass and spin identical to that of an electron but an opposite electrical charge, not an opposite spin and charge. —

New York Times, 2 Oct. 2023 The imaging revolution, starting with the invention of the positron emission tomography (PET) scanner and the MRI in the 1970s, seemed to bring neuroscience out of the dark ages. —

Kristen Martin, Washington Post, 2 Aug. 2023 As of now, insurance typically does not cover the tests, nor another auxiliary test called a positron emission tomography (PET) scan, which can detect plaques in the brain that could signal dementia or Alzheimer’s disease. —

Kaitlin Sullivan, Health, 26 July 2023 An electron, for instance, can appear along with a positron, which is positively charged; the two charges cancel each other out to preserve the total charge of zero. —

Manon Bischoff, Scientific American, 24 Apr. 2023 See More

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'positron.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.