Davester ([info]arcata1) wrote,
@ 2009-05-12 11:44:00
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So the universe expansion isn't slowing down? It is accelerating powered by dark matter??

How can dark matter cause something to move away from it?

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[info]unknownj
2009-05-12 07:12 pm UTC (link)
Not quite.

Dark matter is actually slowing the expansion of the universe, because it exerts a gravitational pull even though we can't detect the matter itself directly.

However, dark energy is accelerating the expansion of the universe. It looks like dark energy exists in the space between everything, a sort of vacuum energy, which means that as the universe expands, so does the space between everything, which actually means that the amount of dark energy would increase over time, thus causing the universe to accelerate in its expansion (and in turn creating more dark energy).

As for what dark energy is, I have no idea. Nor does anybody else, exactly. But it's some sort of repulsive force that exists proportional in some way to the vacuum of space. Sort of...

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[info]unknownj
2009-05-12 07:14 pm UTC (link)
Oh, and of course the amount of dark matter is constant, due to conservation of mass/matter, which means that the force that's trying to contract the universe is staying the same, while the force trying to expand it is ever increasing. It's not really a fair fight.

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