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Dark matter is apparently ‘darker’ than we thought
WaPo ^ | Rachel Feltman

Posted on 03/27/2015 8:14:51 PM PDT by BenLurkin

A new study published Thursday in Science suggests that dark matter might be able to zip through the universe without slowing or dragging because particles of it don't even interact with each other.

Based on what we can observe about the universe, galaxies should be tearing themselves apart. That's where so-called dark matter comes in: It's a term for the as-of-yet unobserved matter that must be bulking up cosmos, giving galaxies the gravity they need to spin at the rates they do without falling to pieces. But even though we haven't caught dark matter (so named because it doesn't interact with light the way normal matter does -- noT absorbing or reflecting it -- though it does bend light with a weird lensing effect) in a straightforward observation, scientists can learn ab0ut it based on the effects it has on more typical, observable forms of matter.

...

"If you bang your head against the wall, the electrostatic force between the molecules in your head and the ones in the wall cause a collision. This is what dark matter doesn't seem to feel," ...

Tom Kitching poo-poo'ed the "darkness" of dark matter:

Sometimes I think dark matter is a terrible name. It was originally coined because the phenomenon does not emit or absorb light. But light is everywhere in the dark matter we have observed, passing within it and around it. Indeed, the lensing effect that we employed in our study uses the light from distant galaxies that has passed through dark matter.

So perhaps "transparent matter" or "clear matter" are better names. My favourite alternative is "materia incognita" (the unknown material). Maps used to be labelled "terra incognita" in areas that were unknown, and in a similar way we could be explicit about the unknown nature of this phenomenon.

(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...


TOPICS: Science
KEYWORDS: darkenergy; darkmatter; speedofdark; stringtheory
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To: BenLurkin

The whole notion of searching for “dark matter” and “dark energy” when we don’t have a proper theory of physics for the matter we know is quite preposterous.

Until someone comes up with a proper quantum theory of gravity (that couples correctly to something that at energies we’ve observed looks more or less like the standard model of particle physics somehow extended to account for neutrino oscillations) we don’t really know that “dark matter” or “dark energy” is needed to account for the anomalous large-scale observations. The quantum corrections to general relativity might take care of all the problems with just the matter we all know and love.


21 posted on 03/27/2015 8:40:40 PM PDT by The_Reader_David (And when they behead your own people in the wars which are to come, then you will know...)
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To: BenLurkin

Now that is a paradox if I’ve ever heard one. LOL!


22 posted on 03/27/2015 8:42:33 PM PDT by doc1019 (Blue lives matter)
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To: The_Reader_David

Someone here once postulated that it is not matter at all — but a form of energy.


23 posted on 03/27/2015 8:55:30 PM PDT by BenLurkin (The above is not a statement of fact. It is either satire or opinion. Or both.)
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To: Daffynition

Geesh. What to the ‘screamers’ make of the “Venus of Willendorf”?


24 posted on 03/27/2015 8:56:58 PM PDT by RushIsMyTeddyBear (The White House is now known as "Casa Blanca".)
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To: BenLurkin

“Dark matter is apparently darker than we thought, darker even than the black stuff between elephants’ toes.”

That’s going to short-dick every cannibal astrophysicist in the Congo.
Dr. Sgt. I.M. Kooky Hartmann


25 posted on 03/27/2015 9:18:18 PM PDT by tumblindice (America's founding fathers: all armed conservatives.)
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To: RushIsMyTeddyBear

26 posted on 03/27/2015 10:12:07 PM PDT by Daffynition ("We Are Not Descended From Fearful Men")
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To: BenLurkin

#DarkMatterMatters


27 posted on 03/27/2015 10:18:53 PM PDT by goldbux (CDO / I may have Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, but at least I put the letters in correct sequence.)
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To: BenLurkin

dem is racis words


28 posted on 03/28/2015 1:52:30 AM PDT by ronnie raygun (Empty head empty suit = arrogant little bastard)
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To: BenLurkin

Dark matter was created when the delta ray radiation of Unobtanium, or possibly Kryptonite, bombarded the flatulence of ancient giant space squids.

Its part of string theory.


29 posted on 03/28/2015 8:42:59 AM PDT by yefragetuwrabrumuy ("Don't compare me to the almighty, compare me to the alternative." -Obama, 09-24-11)
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To: 6SJ7; AdmSmith; AFPhys; Arkinsaw; allmost; aristotleman; autumnraine; bajabaja; ...

· String Theory Ping List ·
It is not rape-rape.
· Join · Bookmark · Topics · Google ·
· View or Post in 'blog · post a topic · subscribe ·


30 posted on 03/28/2015 1:50:49 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (What do we want? REGIME CHANGE! When do we want it? NOW!)
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To: Seruzawa

So either the universe is full of dark matter that no one can detect or their theories are a load of crap.

...

We can detect it, just not directly with electromagnetism.


31 posted on 03/28/2015 2:00:36 PM PDT by Moonman62 (The US has become a government with a country, rather than a country with a government.)
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To: BenLurkin

It’s so dark, it’s like, how much more dark could it be? The answer is none. None more dark.


32 posted on 03/28/2015 2:08:45 PM PDT by Flag_This (You can't spell "treason" without the "O".)
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To: BenLurkin

Positively charged electrons, negatively charged protons, same old neutrons, sort of.

You read it here first. 200 years from now, when they finally figure this out, Apple-Google World Empire Inc., owner of Planet Earth, will make us all famous.


33 posted on 03/28/2015 2:13:16 PM PDT by InterceptPoint (>http://rss.cnn.com/rss/cnn_topstories.rss)
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To: BenLurkin

.
The antics that these turkeys go through to avoid the obvious fact that the universe is bounded and finite would be more appropriate for a vaudeville act.

.


34 posted on 03/28/2015 2:14:04 PM PDT by editor-surveyor (Freepers: Not as smart as I'd hoped they'd be)
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To: doc1019

.
>> Or better yet “matter that doesn’t exist”. <<

.
By Jove, I think he’s got it!
.


35 posted on 03/28/2015 2:15:30 PM PDT by editor-surveyor (Freepers: Not as smart as I'd hoped they'd be)
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To: InterceptPoint

Cool.

I want to come back as some kind of computer avatar or something and hang out with the future people.


36 posted on 03/28/2015 2:15:43 PM PDT by BenLurkin (The above is not a statement of fact. It is either satire or opinion. Or both.)
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To: Paladin2

.
What about Gay matter, huh?

Gay particles are matter!

.


37 posted on 03/28/2015 2:17:40 PM PDT by editor-surveyor (Freepers: Not as smart as I'd hoped they'd be)
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To: editor-surveyor

“The antics that these turkeys go through to avoid the obvious fact that the universe is bounded and finite would be more appropriate for a vaudeville act.”

Size of universe:

Size

The proper distance – the distance as would be measured at a specific time, including the present – between Earth and the edge of the observable universe is 46 billion light-years (14×109 pc), making the diameter of the observable universe about 91 billion light-years (28×109 pc)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universe


38 posted on 03/28/2015 2:18:36 PM PDT by TexasGator
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To: GeronL

.
Do dark matters matter?

.


39 posted on 03/28/2015 2:18:55 PM PDT by editor-surveyor (Freepers: Not as smart as I'd hoped they'd be)
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To: MeshugeMikey

.
>> “Im surprised obie hasnt formed a task force on this issue..yet” <<

.
He has his community disorganizers working on it...

.


40 posted on 03/28/2015 2:21:11 PM PDT by editor-surveyor (Freepers: Not as smart as I'd hoped they'd be)
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