THE Question on Matter, Dark Matter, etc.

We all have most likely heard the following questions asked by people, religous or not: 'If the Big Bang thory proves how the Universe was formed, where did the matter come from? How can something develop from nothing?' Well, with the somewhat recent proposal of dark matter, another question should be asked, 'Where does this so called dark matter come from?' Dark matter is the "stuff" that ISN'T matter, the actual space in Space, right? Also, what are they going to find as the building blocks of molecules get smaller and smaller? What is the most recent discovery again? Quarks? Correct me if I'm wrong and enlighten me a little!

[Edited on 26-4-2004 by xenophanes85]

Actually, dark matter is just a place holder right now for science. They don't believe the universe could exist as it does with the small amount of visible matter we can detect. Dark matter, and dark energy, are theories which raise the weight of the universe, allowing it to exist.

Those who support the dark matter and dark energy theory believe it's out there, but we don't have any instruments to measure it. It goes along the wobble theory, that when we see a star wobble, we suspect it's because a planet is orbiting it, but we don't have the measuring devices to confirm this.

Those who don't support the dark matter and dark energy theory believe that there is a fundamental law of physics we just haven't figured out yet, and when we do it will explain how the universe can exist in the state it is with what little matter there is.

As for the start of the existance of matter, there are many theories. Obviously I have one (look to your left: "Let there be everything").

One theory which is widly accepted is that the univers exists in the 4th (if not the 8th) dimension, and doesn't follow the same laws of time we do. It has always been and always will be, contracting and exploding for all time.

Another theory which goes along the big crunch concept is that the univers will expand, then begin to contract forming a massive black hole. After all matter gets to this point, it will tear a hole in the time space continum, and cause a "big bang" in a different dimension running parallel to ours. This has a much smaller following.

A third theory is that it's going to fizzle out, gravity not being strong enough to bring everything back in on it's self, and we would just get a big cloud of almost-nothing in the end. Hawking proposes that this is true if there is no dark matter out there.

How did it get here in the first place (matter)? That's something that religion seems to have the only answer for, science (as far as I've been able to find) is stumped by the existance of matter.

Thank you for the easy to understand explanation. So basically, they are trying to answer science's version of the 'The chicken or the egg - which came first?' question?

About your explanations, the theory that I most strongly believe in is a combination of '4th Dimension' idea and the 'Big Crunch' proposal. It would mean that the Big Bang that formed OUR Universe was the result of a Universe in parallel dimension contracting. But then the question is asked, where and when did the first contraction start that would eventually create our Universe? It HAS to start somewhere or else there would be no begining to the chain reaction. Again, the 'Chicken before the egg?' question is raised.

About your beliefs, how was God formed? According to you, he 'was, is, and will be'. How is this possible? This belief also raises the 'Chicken before the egg?' question. I find it intersting how both schools of thought (creation, evolution) can question each other about where it all came from - when their own thories both need to answer that very question.

[Edited on 26-4-2004 by xenophanes85]

Dark matter has been indirectly detected by measuring the rotation speed in spiral galaxies. These indicate that there is more mass than there is in visible light. Also measurements on the CMBR and deuterium abundance indicate a way lower visible mass than the mass/energy there is.

There are a lot of proposed theories what this invisible mass/energy could be. Some suggest that it can be explained with enough neutrinos with mass. Other suggestions are vacuum energy and undiscovered particles like magnetic monopoles. There have also been suggestions that not extra matter/energy is causing the strange measurements, but a new force called quintessence.

I recommend Dark Matter and Dark Energy, an overview of things known until end 2003. It's on arxiv, so it's basicly a free book for everyone.

The universe is considered a 4-dimension Riemann manifold since 1905, so that's not really special. Time in general relativity also works different and isn't absolute anymore.

[Edited on 26-4-2004 by amantine]