Why do cosmologists believe in dark matter?
Question asked by: knowitall
Cosmologists believe in dark matter due to the explanatory power it has on explaining the world around us.
This is the problem. The mass of galaxies that is composed of ordinary matter seems to be too little to hold galaxies together.
If they just had the mass we seem to be able to observe then they would fly apart, as the gravity would not be enough to hold them together.
Since we observe that they do stay together, then there must be something to explain what is going on.
One of the leading candidates is to posit an extra mass - dark matter - that fills the gap and provides the extra mass to hold the galaxies together.
In fact, on current theories under the standard model, in the region of 21% of the universe is made of dark matter.
It has the mysterious property of not really interacting with ordinary matter and therefore its particles could pass straight through your body with no impact on you at all, for instance.
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