[Slickscientist (OP)]

Hi everyone,
I had this idea this morning in bed about a way that we could prove the existence of dark matter. This is just an idea, and I want to ask your advice; let's begin!

When you are shading an object on a piece of paper with a pencil, you can sometimes see some grainy or missed bits of shading. Of course, you will quickly scrub your pencil over that area once again to fix this. To your eye, you will see that there are no more bits of dodgy shading, but if we got a microscope over your work, you will see that there might be some grainy places on the sheet; this might have to do with the type of paper you see, the pencil you use or the surface you work on.

Yesterday, I was watching a recording of the show Powering Britain. In the documentary, a female chemist/laboratorist, at one of the largest nuclear power plants in Britain, was monitoring the water feed for particular particles, in parts per trillion! Also, I know that scientists use different techniques to identify the different types and amounts of elements in a sample. They can also make pictures out of it. So, if I, for example, paint a black square over a white board, and then use one of the techniques, wouldn't I prove dark matter? Not yet...

There was another show, which I watched a long time ago. It was about the universe. I remember, a researcher was making a computer model of how the universe formed, but if he/she used all the relevant data and fed it into the computer, they would get a universe model that was far smaller than today's universe. They concluded that the missing elements/particles/mass has to come from 'dark matter', which we can't see/ measure yet (I think).

So, this is how I would prove dark matter:
1) I paint a black square, over and over, on a white background, and then calculate the mass of the painted board.
2) I will then scan the square and find the mass of the detectable atoms n the black square.
3) I will then weigh the board with a standard weighing scale and record any differences
4) if the two masses are different, there is then a determined mass within the known mass; this might be dark matter
5) Lastly, I will make an image of the black square and see if there are any white grains on the image/ unknown shapes on it. This might also be able to indirectly show dark matter.

Remember, these are only ideas and they sound far fetched. See what you think,
Yours sincerely,
Slickscientist, 13

PS: I do know the difference between weight and mass, and I am not sure what techniques scientists currently use to prove the dark matter.

[Kryptid]

The problem here is that dark matter doesn't "stick" to ordinary matter. It passes through it even more easily than neutrinos do. So it wouldn't change the weight of your squares. As far as we can tell so far, dark matter only interacts with ordinary matter through gravitational forces (which are practically non-existent on the level of individual particles).

I like your spirit, though. You remind me a lot of myself when I was your age. Keep on thinking and studying. You'll find many surprises along the way!

[Slickscientist (OP)]

The problem here is that dark matter doesn't "stick" to ordinary matter. It passes through it even more easily than neutrinos do. So it wouldn't change the weight of your squares. As far as we can tell so far, dark matter only interacts with ordinary matter through gravitational forces (which are practically non-existent on the level of individual particles).

I like your spirit, though. You remind me a lot of myself when I was your age. Keep on thinking and studying. You'll find many surprises along the way!

HaHa! I knew that was going to happen. Thanks anyways.