Missing Matter

The quest to find the missing matter, which is often called "dark" matter since we cannot see it, has become a scientific area of its own.

Basically, the problem is this: We can observe that the Universe is expanding because every galaxy that we can see with our telescopes, is moving away from us. The farther away an object is, the faster it seems to be moving away from us.

On a smaller scale, we can calculate the way galaxies interact with each other by the gravitational force. But the weight of the galaxies is much bigger than the total mass which we can observe. In fact, we can only see about 10% of the required mass!

Many physicists believe that the missing matter may exist in the form of strange particles which have more mass than their size implies. If these particles exist in abundance, and if they are spread throughout the cosmos, it might explaing why this problem is seen all over the Universe.

New theories are emerging, however. Lately, observations made with the Hubble Space Telescope has shown that the acceleration of the Universe may in fact be accelerating, which hints that there may be a fifth force in the Cosmos. This would be a "repulsive gravitational force", which makes objects repel each other. In fact, this would be an anti-gravity force.

If such a force exists, there may not be a need for missing matter at all! There are probably many surprises waiting for us in this field of cosmology. In the meantime, check out the sites below to get up-to-date on current dark matter research.

• Hypography Science Feed
• Science Forums Feed
• Science Blogs Feed