The Pull of the Dark Side
“Not only is the Universe stranger than we think,
it is stranger than we can think.”
~ Werner Heisenberg
A Known Unknown Is Something That We Know Is Out There,
We Just Have No Clue What It Is!
One unknown that we know is out there has been called “dark matter.” But it’s not really dark, it’s just invisible. And there’s no guarantee that it’s really matter, either.
We know it’s out there because it pulls on stuff. A lot. The gravitational influence of all of the regular matter that we know about (including black holes) accounts for only about 15% to 20% of the gravitational influence that we see at work keeping stars bound to their orbits around galaxies. What could possibly be creating the other 80% to 85% of the gravity that we have measured?
We don’t know.
This chapter covers a number of possibilities that have been put forward. So far, none of them have risen to the level of a scientific-method-certified theory.
And then there’s the even bigger known unknown: dark energy. But this little book is about gravity, so I’ll leave that one for you to dig into.
All of this is to say that, while we have taken phenomenal strides in understanding how our universe works, and we have harnessed that understanding for our purposes and amusements — there is a whole lot still out there to be discovered. There are known unknowns, and I’ll guarantee you that there are things out there that we have no clue that we have no clue about. The unknown unknowns.
We humans, with the curiosity to explore and dream, and with the scientific method to weed out defective ideas, will most certainly continue to expand our knowledge — and who knows — maybe even our wisdom.
We are a curious breed!
Keep Well;
Michael Kemp
Here are the links from the text in the Post Script:
104. Biography “Fritz Zwicky | Swiss scientist | Britannica.”
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Fritz-Zwicky
105. Great Video “What If Dark Matter Is Just Black Holes? – YouTube.” 13 Apr. 2021,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qy8MdewY_TY
106. Great Video “Why dark matter is a misnomer, with Neil deGrasse Tyson – Big Think.” 6 Jun. 2017,
https://bigthink.com/videos/neil-degrasse-tyson-dark-matter-is-a-misnomer
107. Great Video “What Is The Big Rip? – Universe Today.” 18 Dec. 2013,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QRb3EiOkxrY