Newton was wrong?.... or?

[haraldo]

http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg18524911.600-13-things-that-do-not-make-sense.html?full=true

See 5. Dark matter

TAKE our best understanding of gravity, apply it to the way galaxies spin, and you'll quickly see the problem: the galaxies should be falling apart. Galactic matter orbits around a central point because its mutual gravitational attraction creates centripetal forces. But there is not enough mass in the galaxies to produce the observed spin.

Vera Rubin, an astronomer working at the Carnegie Institution's department of terrestrial magnetism in Washington DC, spotted this anomaly in the late 1970s. The best response from physicists was to suggest there is more stuff out there than we can see. The trouble was, nobody could explain what this "dark matter" was.

And they still can't. Although researchers have made many suggestions about what kind of particles might make up dark matter, there is no consensus. It's an embarrassing hole in our understanding. Astronomical observations suggest that dark matter must make up about 90 per cent of the mass in the universe, yet we are astonishingly ignorant what that 90 per cent is.

Maybe we can't work out what dark matter is because it doesn't actually exist. That's certainly the way Rubin would like it to turn out. "If I could have my pick, I would like to learn that Newton's laws must be modified in order to correctly describe gravitational interactions at large distances," she says. "That's more appealing than a universe filled with a new kind of sub-nuclear particle."

Update: Some scientists are trying to create the stuff themselves. See our free feature, Let there be dark matter.

 

[highfigh]

That's why it's called 'Theoretical Physics'.

Personally, I think the difference is made up by all those left socks collecting at one place when they go missing from the dryer.

 

[haraldo]

That's why it's called 'Theoretical Physics'.

Personally, I think the difference is made up by all those left socks collecting at one place when they go missing from the dryer.

Here it's the right socks that goes away, perhaps they meet for a conference somewhere?

 

[highfigh]

Here it's the right socks that goes away, perhaps they meet for a conference somewhere?

I'm pretty sure that if the sock cluster is large enough and the paths/conditions are right, their mutual attraction causes them to form a double binary.

 

[MUDSHARK]

Can only be explaned by Red matter

 

[Joe Schmoe]

So far, there is no grand unified theory that successfully combines general relativity with quantum mechanics. My guess is that, when such a theory is found, it will explain galactic motion without the need for dark matter while reducing to Newton's laws at smaller scales.

 

[mtrycrafts]

http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg18524911.600-13-things-that-do-not-make-sense.html?full=true

See 5. Dark matter

....

That previous article, number 4 on homeopathy research. She was able to have some results in the lab on a small scale. However, in large scale on a human body, no such evidence exists. Similar to other lab studies on a small scale yet fails in large scales.
Perhaps this is something similar?

 

[Tomorrow]

So far, there is no grand unified theory that successfully combines general relativity with quantum mechanics. My guess is that, when such a theory is found, it will explain galactic motion without the need for dark matter while reducing to Newton's laws at smaller scales.

String Theory is one well-touted attempt.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/String_theory

 

[rnatalli]

Now if we could figure out how to convert dark matter to dark energy and use it, that'd be something.

 

[haraldo]

So far, there is no grand unified theory that successfully combines general relativity with quantum mechanics. My guess is that, when such a theory is found, it will explain galactic motion without the need for dark matter while reducing to Newton's laws at smaller scales.

The energy level for particles required to prove the grand unified theory is so incredibly high that.... according to Stephen Hawking we need a particle accellerator the size of...... hold on..... the Solar system

And, that's a bit unpractical....

 

[Alamar]

IIRC it's more an issue where "relativity" would need adjusting more than Newton's laws of motion & gravitation.

*********************************************************************

As far as "proving" a theory I don't care too much if it's immediately proven as long as it accounts for what's going on much better than current theories. Also instead of directly proving it by smashing atoms some clever person may be able to use the theory and look for some observable by-product of the theory and "prove" it indirectly ... [or at least add more credibility]

 

[highfigh]

Now if we could figure out how to convert dark matter to dark energy and use it, that'd be something.

Matter is energy.

 

[rnatalli]

Matter is energy.

I'm aware of that. But I won't be impressed till they make fruit come out of my printer

 

[haraldo]

I'm aware of that. But I won't be impressed till they make fruit come out of my printer

Nobody can make a printer work......

They may put a man on the moon, send vehicles to Mars and Venus and explore Merkur and Pluto..... but to make a printer that works is the most impossible task.... Nobody ever firgured this out

 

[Joe Schmoe]

The energy level for particles required to prove the grand unified theory is so incredibly high that.... according to Stephen Hawking we need a particle accellerator the size of...... hold on..... the Solar system

And, that's a bit unpractical....

True. I still find the idea of some sort of gravitational phenomenon that only holds at galactic scales much easier to accept than "dark matter". If the alledged dark matter were a very small percentages of the known mass of galaxies (say 0.1%), that might seem reasonable, but 90%?!

 

[highfigh]

I'm aware of that. But I won't be impressed till they make fruit come out of my printer

Fruit? Go big, or go home. Wish for something great. Fruit is good but, I mean, c'mon!

 

[lsiberian]

Nobody can make a printer work......

They may put a man on the moon, send vehicles to Mars and Venus and explore Merkur and Pluto..... but to make a printer that works is the most impossible task.... Nobody ever firgured this out

Somebody needs to expand their horizons from Lexmark's Don't you know there only good for doorstops.

 

[highfigh]

Somebody needs to expand their horizons from Lexmark's Don't you know there only good for doorstops.

Not on tile. They slide right along as the door closes.

 

[haraldo]

Somebody needs to expand their horizons from Lexmark's Don't you know there only good for doorstops.

Well, yes.... Lexmark tops the list of useless electronics, expensive doorstops if you ask me....