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Space Mailbag: I Found Some Dark Matter in My Basement
Space.com ^ | 8/1/03 | Robert Roy Britt

Posted on 08/01/2003 9:20:16 PM PDT by LibWhacker

Stephen Beres writes: Cleaning out my basement, I came across some Dark Matter. I couldn't sweep it up, or vacuum it or anything. It just lay there, very dark. Just kidding. Seriously now, if you had a kilogram of Dark Matter, what would its physical and chemical properties be? Would it be invisible? Containable? Measurable?

In short, how would Dark Matter manifest itself in our world? Would it just sink invisible into the Earth's gravitational field? Is there any way to contain it or study it? How would you know Dark Matter if it were present? Could it be present in small quantities right here and we wouldn't know it? Would it be able to pass right through ordinary matter?

RRB: Astronomers tell us that there is more dark matter than real matter in our galaxy and across the universe, so yours is a fair question(s) -- one that troubles me, too.

I once asked a related question of some very bright physicists on a panel, while they were presenting some important dark matter research. They kind of squirmed. Dark matter is probably made of tiny particles we can't yet measure and don't understand, they had said. And so I asked (I'm paraphrasing myself here): "Since you don't understand the stuff, is it possible it's not made of particles at all, or that the particles are huge, very lightweight particles bigger than this room?" They looked at each other and agreed, yes, perhaps it's not tiny particles.

But -- and this is a pretty important but -- on large scales (in galaxies and galaxy clusters) dark matter behaves like regular matter gravitationally, so they think it's particles. I don't know if they're right, but I believe they're very smart, so in Vegas I'd bet on their answer rather than mine.

There probably is some dark matter in your basement. It's presumed to be everywhere. I wouldn't worry, and I wouldn't count on the vacuum cleaner managing it. Dark matter's local effects are not noticeable or detectable, we're told (I'm withholding judgement on whether this is accurate -- if we don't know what it is, how do we know it doesn't affect us? Maybe it's responsible for transporting car keys to unexpected places in the house). Anyway, all of your sub-questions are largely unanswerable given the current state of the field.

There are some tidbits we can suppose, however: Dark matter probably is not made of any chemicals or elements that we know. Else how can we explain its invisibility? And yes, it is invisible -- at least for now. Scientists have made visible a lot of other things we didn't used to see, though. Is it measurable? Its effects sure are: It holds galaxies together in tandem with real matter, and it bends light. These are the clues that led to calculating that it makes up 85 percent of cosmic matter.

Is it containable? Perhaps there's some in your pocket right now. If scientists can figure out how to keep it there, or move it, then we'll probably know what it is.

A collective of professional research groups and universities plans to build a telescope devoted to studying dark matter and the equally bizarre phenomenon of dark energy. It would start operations in 2011. Sit tight.


TOPICS: Miscellaneous
KEYWORDS: dark; matter; techindex
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It is disgusting when you think about it: You try so hard to keep your house clean yet there are all these heaps of dark matter piled up in the corners . . . It'a a sty . . .
1 posted on 08/01/2003 9:20:16 PM PDT by LibWhacker
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To: LibWhacker
Cleaning out my basement, I came across some Dark Matter. I couldn't sweep it up, or vacuum it or anything.

Just spray some Anti-matter on it, and wipe it up... problem solved...

2 posted on 08/01/2003 9:22:56 PM PDT by Chad Fairbanks (So, I'm in the park wondering why frisbees get larger as they get closer when suddenly, it hits me..)
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To: LibWhacker

Dork Matter.

3 posted on 08/01/2003 9:25:43 PM PDT by martin_fierro (A v v n c v l v s M a x i m v s)
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To: martin_fierro
ROFLMAO!
4 posted on 08/01/2003 9:51:11 PM PDT by wysiwyg (What parts of "right of the people" and "shall not be infringed" do you not understand?)
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To: LibWhacker
I just happened to look in the kid's lunch box from last year. Yep. Dark Matter.
5 posted on 08/01/2003 9:57:08 PM PDT by myprecious
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To: Chad Fairbanks
LOL . . . Sure would beat the heck out of Ajax.
6 posted on 08/01/2003 9:58:11 PM PDT by LibWhacker
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To: myprecious
LOL
7 posted on 08/01/2003 10:01:57 PM PDT by LibWhacker
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To: martin_fierro
LOL . . . Thank GOD that dork lost in 2000!
8 posted on 08/01/2003 10:03:52 PM PDT by LibWhacker
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To: BartMan1
Read the article... see post 3...
9 posted on 08/01/2003 10:19:15 PM PDT by IncPen
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To: LibWhacker
In short, how would Dark Matter manifest itself in our world?

A fair question, and one that in recent weeks has been much on my mind.............

10 posted on 08/01/2003 10:32:56 PM PDT by ALASKA
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To: wysiwyg
We keep our dark matter in the refrigerator at this house. Even there it gets to stinking after a while.
11 posted on 08/01/2003 10:41:49 PM PDT by Ditter
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To: Physicist; RadioAstronomer
ping
12 posted on 08/01/2003 10:46:23 PM PDT by farmfriend ( Isaiah 55:10,11)
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To: Ditter
I caught the dog gnawing on big chunk of dark matter. She had the runs for days. Silly dog, I told her to only gnaw on things that naturalistic science had some basic grasp on, but did she listen?
13 posted on 08/01/2003 10:55:50 PM PDT by Threepwood
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To: Threepwood
I have a question, is dark matter kind of like negative space?
14 posted on 08/01/2003 10:59:12 PM PDT by Ditter
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To: Ditter
No idea. I'm a political scientist, all I can tell you about is Canadian politics. Might want to try the guy who answered my question on nuclear powered space travel. Sorry.
15 posted on 08/01/2003 11:02:28 PM PDT by Threepwood
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To: Chad Fairbanks
Just spray some Anti-matter on it, and wipe it up... problem solved...

Boy, what a way to put "Sani-Flush" out of business! Do you have a lot of this Anti-matter stuff? You could be very, very, rich!

16 posted on 08/01/2003 11:02:52 PM PDT by EGPWS
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To: Threepwood
Forgive me, the link:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/955803/posts

Near the bottom.
17 posted on 08/01/2003 11:03:47 PM PDT by Threepwood
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To: LibWhacker
Astronomers tell us that there is more dark matter than real matter...

If it exists, it's real.

18 posted on 08/01/2003 11:07:06 PM PDT by Consort
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To: Threepwood
I really think dark matter is the stuff you track in from the yard on your shoes.
19 posted on 08/01/2003 11:12:22 PM PDT by Ditter
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To: martin_fierro; LibWhacker; *tech_index; MizSterious; shadowman99; Sparta; freedom9; PatriotGames; ..
ROFL!!!

OFFICIAL BUMP(TOPIC)LIST

20 posted on 08/01/2003 11:16:15 PM PDT by Ernest_at_the_Beach (All we need from a Governor is a VETO PEN!!!)
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