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And what's this Dark Matter all about?

2006-08-11 07:14:58 · 17 answers · asked by Anonymous in Science & Mathematics Astronomy & Space

17 answers

i think this is a physics question, but the existence of antimatter was confirmed in 1932. physicists regularly create and monitor collisions between protons and anti-protons in accelerators in fermilab in illinois and cern in switzerland. because the protons and anti-protons are charged oppositely, they traverse the accelerator ring in opposite directions and may collide where the two paths are made to cross.

observations at a gamma-ray wavelength show that electrons and anti-electrons (positron) may be annihilating each other in sufficient quantity to produce a bright gamma-ray glow surrounding the galactic center.

look here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antimatter
http://imagine.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/ask_astro/answers/970719b.html

no more than four percent of dark matter can be ordinary matter. the rest is unknown. dark matter interacts with ordinary matter only thru gravitation. there is about six times as much dark matter than ordinary matter. fritz zwicky discovered dark matter in 1933.

look here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_matter

2006-08-11 07:21:36 · answer #1 · answered by warm soapy water 5 · 2 1

Speculation. But based on observed reactions. In other words, we know that something which has the properties of anti-matter exists. We're just not entirely sure what it is.

Unlike dark matter, which is not just pure speculation, but based on faulty assumptions. The theory of dark matter is based on the fact that according to our current understanding of gravity, the universe doesn't work. There is not enough gravity being generated by the observable matter in each galaxy to hold the galaxies together.

So, rather than admit that the theory of gravity is incomplete, some scientist invented the concept of matter that cannot be detected by any means except that it generates gravity. And when you put this fudge-factor into the equation, the math works again.

It completely violates Occam's razor, because far simpler explanation with less assumptions is that on the galactic scale, there are other known forces involved (such as electromagnetic) that affect how solar systems and stellar clusters stay intact, and that gravity is not the only thing involved.

2006-08-11 07:18:06 · answer #2 · answered by coragryph 7 · 2 2

Anti-matter exists, and its particles can be detected.

"Exotic Dark Matter" is speculation. Galaxies seem to hold together better than one would expect from the gravity you'd calculate by adding up the mass of ordinary matter within the galaxy. "Exotic Dark Matter" is just a fudge factor to account for the missing mass. We actually don't know what's going on.

2006-08-11 08:27:49 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0 0

Seems like this question has been answered, but I will also add:
Not only does it exist and has been made and used in particle accelerators, medical technology uses it all the time. PET scanners (positron emmision tomography) use anti-electrons (positrons) to make an image of organs within the body. The positrons are produced in a radioactive substance, like C or O attached within a sugar molecule, that is injected into the body. When the radioactive nuclei decay, they produce the positrons, which very quickly meets an electron. When the they meet, they annihilate each other into 2 photons of gamma rays (high energy light). Due to conservation of momentum, these photons go off in exactly opposite directions. They are detected and the computer traces back their paths and (after detecting many of them) can create an image of the inside of the body.

So in summary, PET scanners inject you with something radioactive, which produces antimatter, which annihilates with matter IN YOUR BODY, producing gamma radiation that is detected. And believe it or not, it's completely safe (only because it doesn't take much to actually make the image).

2006-08-11 07:38:36 · answer #4 · answered by Davon 2 · 2 0

Anti-matter exists and is being studied by the clever people at the Hadron Collider in Geneva, Switzerland. Dark matter however is purely hypothetical and is used to explain the forces at work in the universe. Basicly the universe is said to contain 4% normal matter and 96% dark matter and energy, whether or not it exists will be a nobel price winning discovery.

2006-08-11 07:30:38 · answer #5 · answered by Andrew G 2 · 1 0

I watched a special on the National Geographic channel about explosives a few weeks ago and they showed where a very small amount of anti-matter had been created and stored in some secret facility somewhere. Its sobering to think of the awesome destructive power in that little box. Don't know anything about Dark Matter, leastwise they didn't mention it on the explosives special.

2006-08-11 07:19:08 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0 0

Its been proven. It was proven by Quantum Physicists at the Brookhaven National Laboratory in Long Island New York. Only the properties of anti matter are still open to debate. Hit me up if you need more details. Oh yeah, They used the R.H.I.C machine to actually create some. (Relatavistic Heavy Ion Collider)

2006-08-11 07:18:32 · answer #7 · answered by Ronijn 4 · 1 0

that's precisely the position faith will change right into a detriment to technology, at the same time as those of religion call for that questions be replied by way of their faith and that clinical research could end. At that's middle, that's taking income of the logical fallacy of perplexing the unexplained with the unexplanable. In different words, it assumes that because 40-60% of the universe is lacking that it merely isn't found. It receives taken slightly further and concludes that because the 40-60% merely isn't found, that that's "info" that their faith (and in straightforward words their faith) is a ordinary actuality. that's this kind of wondering that held back clinical progression for therefore long. imagine of the position we may be if medical doctors nonetheless held that sickness is led to with the help of sin. the overall lifespan could nonetheless be 30 years, baby mortality could be very intense, we may wade through from many more effective minor (and curable) diseases. Even the fundamentalists take income of clinical progression on some element.

2016-11-24 20:25:02 · answer #8 · answered by kokal 4 · 0 0

Anti-matter does exist we use it in many experiments in particle colliders and the like- essentially it's just like matter with the opposite electrical charge.
So electrons have anti-particles called positrons which are also really really light but charged positively. Similarly you can have negative anti-protons, and so on...

Dark matter is just matter in space which we think must be there but haven't found yet.

2006-08-11 07:18:19 · answer #9 · answered by Carlos the mackerel 1 · 2 0

fact, anti matter exists. Dark matter is another thing entirely. Specualation is there is lots of it out there but is either too small and/or simply reflects little or no light for us to detect. Some feel that nuetrinos are the main componant of dark matter. While Nuetrinos are tiny, and nearly massless, they do have mass and are nearly impossible to detect.

2006-08-11 07:23:27 · answer #10 · answered by SteveA8 6 · 0 0

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