Basic Information
Muonium is a man-made element that is similar to hydrogen, except instead of Proton at its core, it has a Antimuon. Muonium can be made in a particle accelerator, by shooting a beam of anti-muons through a piece of gold foil. As of the time of writing, Muonium has only been made in extremely small amounts, partly because the antimuons that comprise it are extremely short lived (we're talking nanoseconds).
Because of the tiny amounts made and its short lifetime, we have yet to thoroughly analyze the properties of Muonium. It's expected to behave very much like hydrogen and have similar properties, but it's also theoretically possible that it might be a form of exotic matter with the opposite reaction to gravity that hydrogen (and all normal matter) has.
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Game and Story Use
- A great applied phlebotinum possibility, powering antigravity / levitation, and/or doing the things you might expect from metallic hydrogen.
- Interesting possibilities for xenobiology as well, if you suspend disbelief far enough to imaginethat more complicated muonium-like elements are possible under specific extraterrestrial or extremophile conditions. We're talking Carbon or Silicon analogs made of Antimuons instead of Protons.
- If the muonium-equivalent of carbon has anti-grav properties, it'd be a useful for space whales or panspermia ideas.
- If it reacts to gravity like normal matter does, it could comprise a shadow biosphere of maybe short-lived micro-organisms with unusual properties.