Bananas Emit Antimatter Almost Every 75 Minutes
April 23, 2013 at 11:09 pm Chad Upton 16 comments
By Chad Upton
Potassium-40 is a fairly unstable isotope, although the half life is nearly a billion years.
Because bananas have so much of this isotope, there is enough decay to generate one positron (approximately) every 75 minutes.
A positron is basically the opposite of an electron. It has the same mass as an electron, but a positive charge instead of a negative one. It is the electron’s antimatter doppelgänger.
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photo: keepon (cc)
sources: tertiarysource.net, wikipedia (positron, gamma ray)
Entry filed under: Food and Drink. Tags: antimatter, banana, electron, isotope, positron, potassium.
Broken Secrets 
1.
disconnectd | April 23, 2013 at 11:30 pm
Positively useless to the layman, yet absolutely fascinating nonetheless , Chad!!
2.
C.W. | April 30, 2013 at 9:12 am
I started stuffing myself with bananas after reading this hoping to turn into POSITRON MAN. I’m not sure if it worked or not. I haven’t been able to leave the bathroom long enough to find out……
3.
bananaman | May 7, 2013 at 11:10 pm
You wil become POSITRON MAN soon after ElctronMAN stuffs you with his Banana
Ciao Bella!
4.
c | May 9, 2013 at 12:38 am
i thought anti matter is supposed to explode when it touches matter
5.
dudes son | March 11, 2014 at 3:52 am
It does but one atom is not really the biggest explosion
6.
philotumblr | February 12, 2022 at 10:40 pm
The mass of an electron or positron is only a fraction of the mass of an atom – so it’s not even the size of an exploding atom
7.
Tyrone Sandalphon | May 9, 2013 at 7:32 am
Fascinating article that got me thinking …If you eat anti-pasta and then a bowl of spaghetti….are you still left feeling hungry?
8.
duh | March 26, 2014 at 6:05 pm
antipastO
Antipasta isn’t a thing buddy
9.
larsjohanbjorkman | May 9, 2013 at 4:33 pm
I knew something tasted funny!!
10.
Bananas Have More Sugar Than Mars Bars | Broken Secrets | November 13, 2013 at 2:02 am
[…] Bananas Emit Antimatter Almost Every 75 Minutes […]
11.
Willybill Duckyman (@WillyBill7) | November 26, 2013 at 2:05 pm
What matter is it anti to? I understand that every matter in the universe has it’s own antimatter and if they meet they will annihilate each other.
12.
Peter | October 28, 2018 at 12:25 am
An electron.
13. Quick Fact: Bananas emit antimatter almost every 75 minutes.Ref: https://brokensecrets.com/2013/04/23/bananas-emit-antimatter-almost-every-75-minutes/... - Quick Facts | October 28, 2018 at 11:24 am
[…] Bananas emit antimatter almost every 75 minutes. Ref: brokensecrets.com/2013/04/23/bananas-emit-antimatter-almost-every-75-minutes/ […]
14. 10 choses que je ne savais pas la semaine dernière #363 – NLQ | November 26, 2018 at 12:30 am
[…] 4. Les bananes produisent de l’antimatière. […]
15.
Richard Barnes | February 16, 2020 at 9:21 am
Is it true you should not eat bananas before commercial flying inasmuch as the matter in bananas will set off security alarms when you go through flight screening?
16.
Anti-Richard | April 19, 2020 at 8:07 am
Oh, good grief.
No. It’s not true.