Shedding light on dark matter

9 CQ

Physicist Patricia Burchat sheds light on two basic ingredients of our universe: dark matter and dark energy. Comprising 96% of the universe between them, they can't be directly measured, but their influence is immense.

Aired August 17, 2008

All TED content is available at www.ted.com

  • Recommended Recommended
  • History & In Progress History
  • Browse Library
  • Most Popular Library

Get Personalized Recommendations

Let us help you figure out what to learn! By taking a short interview you’ll be able to specify your learning interests and goals, so we can recommend the perfect courses and lessons to try next.

Start Interview

    You don't have any lessons in your history.
    Just find something that looks interesting and start learning!

    3 Comments
    500 characters max

    Bee Q
    This was an amazing explanation!
    appreciate appreciated
     –  reply
     –  delete
    500 characters max

    Thendral P
    If the dark matter sensing crystal is so sensitive, how can you be sure that it isn't set off by earthly vibrations even though it's set up underground?
    appreciate appreciated
     –  reply
     –  delete

    Bee Q
    They can't. What they do is they have many different detectors in different places. If only one of them detects something it is most likely a "false alarm". When you repeat these measurements over and over in different places and have similar results, then the probability that they have detected dark energy/matter is greater.
    appreciate appreciated
     –  reply
     –  delete
    500 characters max