Dark matter makes up at least 27% of the universe. Everything on earth only adds up to less than 5% of the universe. Dark matter has been a mystery for a long time and continues to be in so many aspects. What is dark matter, and what do we know about it?
Dark matter is made of Baryonic matter
Dark matter is made of natural matter like the ones on earth, including protons, neutrons, and electrons as the traditional building blocks.
Dark matter is made of tiny black holes
Stephen Hawking in 1974 predicted that dark matter goes back to the big bang and is made of black holes. Since then, scientists have been investigating this theory.
Dark matter is not baryonic at all. It is made of more exotic particles like axions or Weakly Interactive Massive Particles (WHIMPs).
Dark matter is made of axions
In the 1970s, Scientists proposed axions as small particles that help balance neutrons and make them symmetrical. Because of the vast number of axions, scientists proposed them as candidates of dark matter in the universe.
Scientists should explain the discrepancy between the predicted and calculated models by modifying the theory of gravity instead of proposing the presence of additional matter that we cannot see.
Scientists cannot see dark matter
Scientists haven't been able to detect dark matter either through experimentation at labs or through observation in the sky or underground. Scientists should not look for hidden dark matter, but rather modify the laws of gravity to account for it.
