|
|
|
chaloobi
SFN Regular
1620 Posts |
 Posted - 01/05/2005 : 11:59:03
|
|
And so are YOU. And everything else. Freaky, ain't it?
|
-Chaloobi
|
|
|
Ricky
SFN Die Hard
USA
4907 Posts |
|
|
Dave W.
Info Junkie
USA
26022 Posts |
Posted - 01/05/2005 : 14:12:23 [Permalink]
|
quote:
Originally posted by chaloobi
And so are YOU. And everything else. Freaky, ain't it?
Well, I don't see any... |
- Dave W. (Private Msg, EMail)
Evidently, I rock!
Why not question something for a change?
Visit Dave's Psoriasis Info, too. |
 |
|
|
Siberia
SFN Addict
Brazil
2322 Posts |
Posted - 01/05/2005 : 14:42:27 [Permalink]
|
quote:
Originally posted by Ricky
Hopefully I'm not the only one thinking this, but:
Huh?
Make that two. |
"Why are you afraid of something you're not even sure exists?"
- The Kovenant, Via Negativa
"People who don't like their beliefs being laughed at shouldn't have such funny beliefs."
-- unknown
|
|
|
|
filthy
SFN Die Hard
USA
14408 Posts |
Posted - 01/05/2005 : 14:59:43 [Permalink]
|
I myself, wish to be awash in cheap whiskey, but it's still a long way to check day, alas. 
 |
"What luck for rulers that men do not think." -- Adolf Hitler (1889 - 1945)
"If only we could impeach on the basis of criminal stupidity, 90% of the Rethuglicans and half of the Democrats would be thrown out of office." ~~ P.Z. Myres
"The default position of human nature is to punch the other guy in the face and take his stuff." ~~ Dude
Brother Boot Knife of Warm Humanitarianism,
and Crypto-Communist! 
|
|
|
|
Dave W.
Info Junkie
USA
26022 Posts |
|
|
filthy
SFN Die Hard
USA
14408 Posts |
Posted - 01/05/2005 : 17:06:21 [Permalink]
|
quote:
Originally posted by Dave W.
Well, filthy, you admitted to being awash in dark matter already... or was that just dirt?
As far as I can tell, just dirt. But I'm scedualed to remove that in a couple of days, if the weather's not too cold.
|
"What luck for rulers that men do not think." -- Adolf Hitler (1889 - 1945)
"If only we could impeach on the basis of criminal stupidity, 90% of the Rethuglicans and half of the Democrats would be thrown out of office." ~~ P.Z. Myres
"The default position of human nature is to punch the other guy in the face and take his stuff." ~~ Dude
Brother Boot Knife of Warm Humanitarianism,
and Crypto-Communist!
|
|
|
|
Dave W.
Info Junkie
USA
26022 Posts |
Posted - 01/05/2005 : 17:36:55 [Permalink]
|
| Make sure to save it, so that scientists can examine it to be sure it's run-of-the-mill filth, and not exotic particles. |
- Dave W. (Private Msg, EMail)
Evidently, I rock!
Why not question something for a change?
Visit Dave's Psoriasis Info, too. |
|
|
|
chaloobi
SFN Regular
1620 Posts |
Posted - 01/05/2005 : 20:10:28 [Permalink]
|
quote:
Originally posted by Ricky
Hopefully I'm not the only one thinking this, but:
Huh?
I was watching a PBS show last night hosted by Alan Alda and they were talking about Dark Matter. The best guess right now is that dark matter is made of wimps - Weekly Interactive Massive Particles. That is, it is matter that is completely chemically and physically neutral except that it has mass and thus has gravitational influence. It is currently believed that our visible galaxy is merely a third of the total mass of the actual galactic structure and that the rest is dark matter which is flowing through our bodies, our planet, our star and every empty space around us in a vast invisble nebula right now as I type this. Pretty bizarre. They're working on detecting the stuff right now usign super-sensitive instruments that will actually be able to detect the occasional collision of a dark matter particle with the nucleus of normal (baryonic) matter. My 4 year old was bugging me during that part and I missed whether any of the various detectors around the world has come up with anything yet. |
-Chaloobi
|
|
|
|
Ricky
SFN Die Hard
USA
4907 Posts |
|
|
Ricky
SFN Die Hard
USA
4907 Posts |
|
|
furshur
SFN Regular
USA
1536 Posts |
Posted - 01/06/2005 : 08:25:08 [Permalink]
|
Ricky,
I would guess that these Weakly Interactive Massive Particles are like neutrinos, only they have a large rest mass. Neutrinos pretty muchly just pass through matter with out interaction - it is curious that a very massive particle would not interact with matter though.
I predict if Storm sees this thread she will 'figure out' that WIMP's are evidence for another dimension that is inhabited by ghost.
|
If I knew then what I know now then I would know more now than I know. |
|
|
|
chaloobi
SFN Regular
1620 Posts |
Posted - 01/06/2005 : 09:14:51 [Permalink]
|
quote:
Originally posted by Ricky
Can you explain how something can be chemically and physically neutral? I've heard of neutral charges, but nothing else.
The gist of the theory stems from the fact that matter is mostly empty space. So if a particle doesn't interact electromagnetically - that is if it's immune to the influences of an atom's electron cloud - then it can pass right through the atom without ever interacting with it. And if the particle is inert to a regular atom's electron cloud, then it will be inert to the entire electromagnetic spectrum. So you can't 'see' it by bouncing any form of light off it. But since the particle has mass, so the theory goes, it likely exists in some descreet 'space' so as it passes through the mostly empty space of an atom, it will occasionally strike the nucleus of that atom. And that collision should be detectable. Which is what many research teams are now looking for. |
-Chaloobi
|
|
|
|
chaloobi
SFN Regular
1620 Posts |
Posted - 01/06/2005 : 09:22:33 [Permalink]
|
quote:
Originally posted by Ricky
You say that:
<snip>
Now if Dark Matter is really flowing "through" our bodies, then it must not be able to collide with a baryonic particle.
And if Dark Matter is in empty space, then we would experiece a much smaller vaccum in space, no?
See my last post. It's all based on the fact that an atom is almost entirely nothing. The actual volume of space filled by an atom is defined by it's electron cloud. Electrons have almost no mass, so you have a lot of volume defined by an electromagnetic force generated by the electron cloud but which actually contains almost no matter. The nucleus of the atom, which is very tiny compared to it's overall volume as defined by the cloud, contains 99.9999% (not sure how many 9s to go out, so don't call me on that) of it's mass. The reason atoms of normal matter don't pass right through each other is because the electron clouds repel each other, giving the atoms a large, solid seeming surface. But a dark matter particle, which presumably has nothing like an electron cloud and is electromagnetically neutral, can pass right through a normal atom as though it weren't even there. And only occasionally would such a particle happen to colide with a normal matter nucleus. |
-Chaloobi
|
| Edited by - chaloobi on 01/06/2005 09:38:51 |
|
|
|
chaloobi
SFN Regular
1620 Posts |
Posted - 01/06/2005 : 09:34:25 [Permalink]
|
quote:
Originally posted by furshur
<snip>
I predict if Storm sees this thread she will 'figure out' that WIMP's are evidence for another dimension that is inhabited by ghost.
You know it does open an interesting field of conjecture for those supernaturally inclined. The dark matter concept gives a means by which a whole universe, completely undetectable, can exist not only side by side with our own, but actually WITHIN it. Because it is influenced by gravity, dark matter pools in the exact same locations as our stars and worlds have pooled. Our planet has a shadow dark-matter planet existing in the EXACT SAME LOCATION IN SPACE. The same goes for our sun, and so on. Current theory is the dark matter is nubulous and does not interact chemically with itself, and so cannot form complex structures, but who the hell knows? We can't even detect the stuff, much less determine if there are properties by which it might interact with itself. What if these dark matter particles CAN interact with each other? What if they form worlds and stars with their own completely descreet chemical properties and have even evolved to living organisms? There could be a shadow civilization, living, thinking beings moving around and through us right now, completely undetectable. Wow, I say. |
-Chaloobi
|
|
|
|
Shacal
Skeptic Friend
USA
51 Posts |
Posted - 01/06/2005 : 09:46:38 [Permalink]
|
quote:
They're working on detecting the stuff right now usign super-sensitive instruments that will actually be able to detect the occasional collision of a dark matter particle with the nucleus of normal (baryonic) matter.
quote:
We can't even detect the stuff, much less determine if there are properties by which it might interact with itself.
Tell me if I have missed something but aren't these statements mutually exclusive?
Also, why all the speculation about what it could be? What evidence do you have for a "shadow civilization" living "in" us?
This sounds to me like an argument from ignorance: the calculations (perhaps incorrect or incomplete) say there should be more matter, but because their is no way to detect any, wild speculations fly. |
"The problem with communication is the illusion that we have accomplished it" |
|
|
 |
|
Topic Locked
