Dark Matter and Dark Energy

Dark Matter & Dark Energy

Written by Chen Jian Xun Design and edit by Rebecca Sopacua

Dark Matter Dark Matter is known to make up more than 50% of the Universe and yet not much is known about them, if we were to understand what it is it may uncover the mystery of how our universe came to be but we do have some theory about them.

Dark Matter does not emit light nor does it absorb light which makes it very hard to visualise, dark matter is also not affected by any type of particles in the electromagnetic spectrum which adds to the difficulty of trying to figure out what it is. Now, we know that dark matter can pass through normal matter and we think it is some form of particle much like electrons, protons and neutrons. We know that it exists because it has some gravitational properties that can bend and distort light when we were trying to observe the different galaxies.

Hadron Collider Mechanism

Hadron Collider Exterior

Scientists have been trying to test out their theories and find out more about dark matter with some ongoing experiments like attempting to make dark matter by smashing different particles at very high speeds.

Large Underground Xenon experiment

Dark Matter Particle Explorer

The Large Underground Xenon experiment also known as (LUX) is putting a big tank of liquid xenon about 1.5 kilometers underground to hopefully be able to pick up some kind of signal given off by the interaction between dark matter and the liquid xenon.

There is also the Dark Matter Particle Explorer or (DMPE) which is aiming to use sensitive electromagnetic particles detection systems in a satellite to catch some particles that may be given off when dark matter in space interacts with its surroundings.

Dark Energy Like dark matter little is known about dark energy it may or may not be related to dark matter but some theory suggests that its an opposing force to gravity. Meaning that instead of pulling matters in space together it pushes them away, we found out by observing the distances between different galaxies that seem to be growing further apart as time passes.

Scientists used to think that the universe may be contracting because of all the gravitational forces that galaxies are exerting on each other, but it's actually quite the opposite. Space is growing, the universe may actually be expanding. We are not actually certain whether it's a force of energy but there is something out there that is causing all of this to happen.

SOURCES: Fig.1 Dark Matter https://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.sciencealert.com Fig.2 Hadron Collider Mechanism https://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=https%3A%2F%2Fapi.time.com Fig.3 Hadron Collider Exterior https://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=https%3A%2F%2Fcds.cern.ch%2Fimages Fig.4 Large Underground Xenon experiment https://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.brown.edu%2Fsites Fig.5 Dark Matter Particle Explorer https://spaceflight101.com/spacecraft/wp-content/uploads/sites/18/2015/11/dampe-512x384.jpg Fig.6 Dark Energy https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn%3AANd9GcSh3I_EoNArWN68eL56Nh2Pxd2YtTIgQUeFTg&usqp =CAU