Dark Matter

Nathan F · Post by **Nathan F** » 2003-01-22 09:39pm

I was thinking, what do you think the best explanation for 'dark matter' is. I.E., the unaccounted for matter that the universe SHOULD have.

Post by **Colonel Olrik** » 2003-01-22 09:40pm

You know we have a SCIENCE forum, don't you?

HemlockGrey · Post by **HemlockGrey** » 2003-01-22 09:40pm

It is quite obviously Dust.

jaeger115 · Post by **jaeger115** » 2003-01-22 09:42pm

It is quite obviously Dust.

Ummm... I'm not sure. Could you prove that?

Nathan F · Post by **Nathan F** » 2003-01-22 09:44pm

Hmm, yeah, could a mod move this and the Speed of light thread to the Science forum?

HemlockGrey · Post by **HemlockGrey** » 2003-01-22 09:45pm

Ummm... I'm not sure. Could you prove that?

Take two sheets of amber lacquer and place them a handspan apart.

Crown · Post by **Crown** » 2003-01-22 09:45pm

Isn't dust just made up of dead skin (household not space), and the rest fine grains of dirt?

But honestly I enjoy Physics just as much as the next guy, but really there are somethings that I feel are way beyond me, that and I am too lazy to actually read up on anything that is not directly related to my degree (and even then it's a struggle)

.

HemlockGrey · Post by **HemlockGrey** » 2003-01-22 09:46pm

It's not dust, it's Dust.

Gah...nevermind.

Crown · Post by **Crown** » 2003-01-22 09:48pm

Are we talking B5 here or something?

Post by **Darth Wong** » 2003-01-22 09:51pm

I haven't studied up on dark matter. It sounds pretty strange, but if there were any better ideas, I'm sure someone would have proposed one to a peer-reviewed journal by now. It is manifested, just not directly visible to us (yet).

Durandal · Post by **Durandal** » 2003-01-22 10:13pm

Exotic dark matter occurs in three forms: WIMP's (Weakly Interacting Massive Particles), MACHO's (MAssive Compact Halo Objects) and neutrinos. Exotic dark matter is very weakly interacting. Non-exotic dark matter consists of black holes, neutron stars, brown dwarfs and white drawfs, all of which may contain exotic dark matter.

The best evidence for its existence is the rotation of galaxies. We'd expect the rotation speed of galaxies to drop off the further you get from the center, but it doesn't drop off nearly as much as it should, if the observable radius of the galaxy is indeed the true radius. So, the galaxy must be a lot larger than what we can see.

My notes may be a bit dated (they're about a year old), but at that point, exotic and non-exotic dark matter was theorized to take by roughly 25% of the universe's mass, with 70% being dark energy, lamba or quintessence (whichever is accelerating the universe's expansion).

Exonerate · Post by **Exonerate** » 2003-01-22 10:16pm

HemlockGrey wrote:
Ummm... I'm not sure. Could you prove that?
Take two sheets of amber lacquer and place them a handspan apart.

Its also produced by people when they fall in love

Patrick Degan · Post by **Patrick Degan** » 2003-01-22 10:21pm

Darth Wong wrote:I haven't studied up on dark matter. It sounds pretty strange, but if there were any better ideas, I'm sure someone would have proposed one to a peer-reviewed journal by now. It is manifested, just not directly visible to us (yet).

All we do know is that it's used as starship fuel in the world of Futurama.

Post by **Darth Wong** » 2003-01-22 10:22pm

Patrick Degan wrote:All we do know is that it's used as starship fuel in the world of Futurama.

And there may be dense pockets of it in the skulls of Berman and Braga

Post by **Ghost Rider** » 2003-01-22 10:22pm

And is the crap of some small three eyed creature to which Frye was their savior

Ah Futurama...may she last long on the CN.

Exonerate · Post by **Exonerate** » 2003-01-22 10:31pm

HemlockGrey wrote:
Ummm... I'm not sure. Could you prove that?
Take two sheets of amber lacquer and place them a handspan apart.

/me is shocked that nobody caught the Phillip Pullman reference.
You guys need to read more literature...

Zoink · Post by **Zoink** » 2003-01-22 11:35pm

Dark matter only interacts through gravity. The result is: you can't see it, it doesn't form molecules or atoms.