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Asked by baggo123 to Colm, Eoin, Joseph, Lauren, Stephen on 12 Nov 2013.
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Eoin O Colgain answered on 12 Nov 2013:
Largely things we do not understand. The part of the Universe we do understand is only 5%, the rest is either dark matter, which we know about because it is subject to gravity or dark energy, which is the mysterious force causing the Universe to expand.
So you too are an expert in the composition of the Universe, as expert as anyone else. 🙂
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colm bracken answered on 13 Nov 2013:
Good question baggo123,
As Eoin said, most theorists think the Universe is mostly made up of dark energy and dark matter. However I am not convinced of the dark matter theory since we have never detected a particle of dark matter. We can detect extra gravity coming from somewhere so some scientists came up with the idea of invisible matter. The same idea was used when astronomers did not understand why the planet Mercury moving in a way we could not explain. They invented a new planet that they called Vulcan, and said that it was tugging on Mercury but that we can’t see it as it was made of ‘dark invisible matter’. Of course they were wrong, and Albert Einstein came up with a new theory that explained what was really happening. What do you think is going on with the extra gravity? Any ideas??? -
Stephen Scully answered on 14 Nov 2013:
It is about 5% normal everyday stuff that we see around us, like Oxygen, Hydrogen etc… and 95% of stuff that we have no idea yet, this unknown stuff is called Dark Matter and Dark Energy.
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Joseph Roche answered on 15 Nov 2013:
Great question. And as the lads said – mostly stuff we don’t understand. That’s why we are always encouraging more people to study science. There are so many mysteries to solve – we need all the help we can get.
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