Thread: What does dark matter look like?

If I had a clump of dark matter in my hand, what would it look like? Would it be black or invisible?

is it even the type of thing that you can hold in your hand ?

Originally Posted by gib65

If I had a clump of dark matter in my hand, what would it look like? Would it be black or invisible?

It wouldn't be there in any way you could notice. Dark matter does not interact with electromagnetic force, which is the force that sticks our atoms together and prevents matter from occupying the space of other matter. So, it would pass through your hand and would drop into the center of the Earth, as gravity affects it and it haves a mass.

But without the interactions of electromagnetic force, you couldn't see nor touch it...

(Anyway I'm not sure of what effects could have from the other two forces, although we can't detect them with our senses. Notice there are four forces in the universe: gravity, electromagnetism, strong nuclear force and weak nuclear force).

So is it reasonable to say that for every large object in the universe (planet, moon, star) there's probably a glob of dark matter buzzing around its center?... On that note, is it possible that we (our planet and local celestial environment) could be drifting towards astronomically huge masses of dark matter and not recognize what it was we were converging towards?

Dark matter looks like this -------->

Originally Posted by leohopkins

Dark matter looks like this -------->

No, that's what the invisible man looks like.

Originally Posted by TvEye

Originally Posted by leohopkins

Dark matter looks like this -------->

No, that's what the invisible man looks like.

How do you know?

Infact all dark matter is shaped EXACTLY like the invisible man!
Prove me wrong!

Originally Posted by leohopkins

Infact all dark matter is shaped EXACTLY like the invisible man!
Prove me wrong!

Damn it. This is what I hate about science. Always these gods, leprechauns and invisible men.

I think I should just forget this whole thing and get into the pseudosciences, like mathematics.

Originally Posted by gib65

If I had a clump of dark matter in my hand, what would it look like? Would it be black or invisible?

Dark Matter is still science fiction: it is like a mythical Atlantis. Dark Matter is a concept that was proposed to accommodate for Big Bang theorist's model of the Universe, to accommodate for gravitational inconsistencies in the pattern of EM radiation in what is thought to be a faitrly uniform space-time universe. It is an idea. There is no absolute proof for it. It is a theoretical explanation for the behavior of light travelling through space at great distances. It is therefore a source of GREAT INTEREST to the scientific community, because it represents a potential GOLD MINE of new ideas that eager theoretical physicists are willing to cash in on (including their own autobiographies).

Non-luminous gas. Simply put, gas that is either clear or transparent, proportional to it's emissivity, or it's ability to absorb or radiate energy.

Huge globs of this type of gas could provide a gravitational field that might affect rotational speeds of galaxies or cause gravitational lensing and remain completely undetectable to electromagnetic radiation detectors .

Seems reasonable.

Originally Posted by streamSystems

Dark Matter is still science fiction: it is like a mythical Atlantis ... it represents a potential GOLD MINE of new ideas that eager theoretical physicists are willing to cash in on (including their own autobiographies).

Said the kettle to the pot. :wink:

Originally Posted by (Q)

Originally Posted by streamSystems

Dark Matter is still science fiction: it is like a mythical Atlantis ... it represents a potential GOLD MINE of new ideas that eager theoretical physicists are willing to cash in on (including their own autobiographies).

Said the kettle to the pot. :wink:

Pot to the kettle, other way around (Q) :wink:

I am glad you guys know what you are talking about. Still, in not trying to lose the plot completely, I would still confirm with myself (pot and kettle) that unless we are made up of dark matter ourselves, biologically, it belongs where all other fantasy materials belong.........with people who talk about kettles and pots in a science-forum.

It would be kind of weird that we could propose to be conscious of something that is not intrinsic to our own biological make-up, right?

Thank God though for the Star Wars series, for if it was not for the ideas promoted there, like midichlorines, THE FORCE (need I go on), that we would not know the difference between fantasy and reality.

Still, I also believe that humans are excellent at adapting to new environments, and so presumably by the time we have the technology to go out and investigate dark-matter, we would have developed some type of alien-like dark-matter form into our biology.

I look forward to those possibilities.

Originally Posted by streamSystems

Iunless we are made up of dark matter ourselves, biologically, it belongs where all other fantasy materials belong.

Are you made of uranium 238?

I guess it would congeal well with my current atomic make-up.

Doesn't our water supply have trace elements of almost everything though, in terms of atomic substance, except the real exotic stuff?

But being made up of dark-matter, as I said, maybe we could adapt?

Originally Posted by streamSystems

But being made up of dark-matter, as I said, maybe we could adapt?

Unknown, our bodies rely on EM interactions to survive.

Stream Systems: Check Nasa, They've proved dark matter!
The link's on another recent thread about dark matter.

If you wanted to mathematically understand dark matter, consider the point.
It is actually a zero-dimensional body that exists as a mosaique in infinite spacial volume. Basucally, if you take light, and pass it through a singularity, youll be left with a point, with dimensions (X_0)^1/4, or the fourth root of X naught.

This body is a zero-dimensional body that moves along the time line.

On a cartesian plane, dark matter would be every infitesimal pt on the plane. The same applies in R3 and in R4. it intersects every pt in these spaces, but can only do so through R0.


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