October 2nd, 2014, 02:05 PM
What exactly are Dark Matter and Dark Energy? Is it a form of anti-matter or anti-energy? How does it effect the Universe and its celestial bodies, specifically over time? Were they created in the Big Bang along with matter and energy? Does E = M*C(Squared) for anti-matter or dark matter/energy?
First off, dark matter and dark energy are not related other than sharing the word "Dark" in their names.
Dark matter is the name given to the mass that seems to exist but cannot be seen. Basically, when we look at the universe, there appears to be more gravity than can be accounted for by the matter we see. 'Dark Matter' is the label given for the proposed extra mass. One possible source for dark matter are just regular astronomical objects that just don't give off enough light for us to see (planets, dust, black holes, etc.). However, the amount of Dark matter needed is much, ~5 times as much as there is visible matter, that this can't account for it all. The other possibility is its made from a type of particle which just doesn't interact electromagnetically. This type of matter would just not react with light by emission, absorption or reflection. Neither would it form the types of bonds that allow it to form compact bodies. The only way it interacts is through gravity. Such a particle is not beyond what we already know about. The neutrino come very close to this. It also doe not interact with through the electromagnetic force. (in fact billions of them are passing through your body right now without your being aware of them.) The neutrino does interact under the right conditions with the weak force, but there is a hypothetical type of neutrino known as the "sterile neutrino" which doesn't even do this, and might be a good candidate for Dark matter.
Dark energy is the name we gave to whatever it is that appears to be causing the rate at which the universe expands to increase over time. The term Dark Matter had already been coined by the time the observations led to this discovery were made, and so the term "Dark energy" seemed a natural choice, even though the two weren't related.
Dark matter is on less sturdy footing than dark matter. We don't know if it is really a new type of energy, or just an indication that something about our present theories need to be tweaked.
Last edited by Janus; October 2nd, 2014 at 05:57 PM.
Pssst Janus. The above needs a slight edit.Originally Posted by Janus
Oops. Well at least wasn't my normal slip up of transposing letters. I don't know why, but my fingers always want to type "form" instead of "from" and "from" Instead of "form". (I'll leave it to you to decide whether or not they just did in this case or notPssst Janus. The above needs a slight edit..)
It gives me some confidence that you are human at leastOops. Well at least wasn't my normal slip up of transposing letters. I don't know why, but my fingers always want to type "form" instead of "from" and "from" Instead of "form". (I'll leave it to you to decide whether or not they just did in this case or notPssst Janus. The above needs a slight edit.
Hi guys !
When I was a kid, my first car was a second hand Datsun 120Y. Nice when I bought it, though it started to under perform, break down occassionally .. and got passe rather quickly ..
I tweaked it here, polished it there, added extractors, chrome plated grease nipples .. pom poms with a nodding doggie inside the rear window ..
In the end, I couldn't tweak it anymore .. I realised I still had a Datsun 120Y.
So I scrapped it - literally.
:-)
I bet you fooled your insurance provider though. :-))
Not at all. Implicitly, they knew it's value was approaching zero :-)I bet you fooled your insurance provider though. :-))
I think you may want to correct to : "Dark energy is on less sturdy footing than dark matter.".
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