 |
| Dark Matter Detector |
"A third experiment has detected tantalising signs of dark matter. The finding raises more questions than answers, however, as two other experiments have found no sign of the mysterious stuff, which is thought to create the gravity that holds spinning galaxies together, accounting for about 85 per cent of all matter in the universe.
"The new result comes from an experiment called CRESST II, which uses a few dozen supercooled calcium tungstate crystals to hunt for dark matter from deep beneath the Gran Sasso mountain in Italy. When a particle hits one of the crystals, the crystal gives off a pulse of light, and sensitive thermometers gauge the energy of the collision."1
"The new result comes from an experiment called CRESST II, which uses a few dozen supercooled calcium tungstate crystals to hunt for dark matter from deep beneath the Gran Sasso mountain in Italy. When a particle hits one of the crystals, the crystal gives off a pulse of light, and sensitive thermometers gauge the energy of the collision."1
You can call dark matter a representation of our collective ignorance: it is something that we don't know, but scientists are trying to discover what it is to answer fundamental questions after the "Big Bang": either that the universe will keep expanding forever, or that it will reach a limit and start to reverse into a "Big Crunch." Hopefully, not tomorrow (it's Friday)!
1. New Scientist: Third experiment sees hints of dark matter
2. Astronomy Today: Dark Matter and its implications
No comments:
Post a Comment