Naked Science Forum
Non Life Sciences => Physics, Astronomy & Cosmology => Topic started by: jfoldbar on 07/08/2021 05:24:11
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i sometime watch you tube vids about dark matter and dark energy. and there seems to be a few points that never quite seem to come to light in these vids. so would like others input.
first., it seems to me that there is a bit of disagreement about whether dark energy and matter even exist or not. some people suggest that it is proven they do exist, while other people say they some observations suggest otherwise.
second.
why is the search for dark matter and energy always "in outer space"? do they ever search for it closer to home? if not, why not.? like, if dark matter is everywhere, wouldnt it then also be right in front of me, so why would i look for it a Quintilian miles away when i could look right in front of me.
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why is the search for dark matter and energy always "in outer space"? do they ever search for it closer to home?
There are indeed efforts to detect dark matter right here on Earth: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_matter#Direct_detection
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Hi.
first., it seems to me that there is a bit of disagreement about whether dark energy and matter even exist or not.
Yes. Dark matter is still quite uncertain. Dark Energy we know even less about.
while other people say they some observations suggest otherwise.
The keyword is "suggests". There are observations that "suggest" there should be something like Dark Matter and dark Energy. There are also some alternative theories.
why is the search for dark matter and energy always "in outer space"? do they ever search for it closer to home? if not, why not.? like, if dark matter is everywhere, wouldnt it then also be right in front of me, so why would i look for it a Quintilian miles away when i could look right in front of me.
Kryptid already answered this. Particle physics experiments such as the stuff going on at the Large Hadron Collider may find candidates (particles) for dark matter.
Our current theories of gravity and the matter that we can see with our telescopes (or just our eyes) seems to explain motion here on earth and out into our solar system quite well. Our mechanics works less well as we look further out - on the scale of galaxies, clusters of galaxies and superclusters. We seem to need more mass out on the edges of galaxies and between galaxies. That's the main reason why most dark matter is thought to be that far out - it's one of the most reasonable ways to explain what we see.
There are alternative ideas: MOND (Modified Newtonian Dynamics) is one of the main alternative ideas.
I'm not going to bother talking about Dark Energy too much but obviously you can ask more or find out more if you wish. I would imagine there are already other threads on this forum that have discussed it.
Best Wishes.