What is the universe mostly made of
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What is the Universe Mostly Made Of?
Composition of the Universe: Dark Energy and Dark Matter
The universe is predominantly composed of two mysterious components: dark energy and dark matter. Independent measurements indicate that matter constitutes only about 30% of the universe's total content, with the remaining 70% attributed to dark energy, a force responsible for the accelerated expansion of the universe 13. This dark energy is often interpreted as vacuum energy, behaving like a fluid with negative pressure .
Dark Energy: The Dominant Force
Dark energy is the most abundant component, making up approximately 70-75% of the universe 3610. It is a mysterious antigravity force that drives the accelerated expansion of the universe. The exact nature of dark energy remains one of the murkiest questions in physics, with its origin presumably related to the cosmological constant 13. Recent measurements of the cosmic microwave background and other cosmological observations strongly support the dominance of dark energy in the universe .
Dark Matter: The Invisible Mass
Dark matter accounts for about 25-30% of the universe's content 3610. Unlike dark energy, dark matter exerts gravitational forces and is responsible for the formation and structure of galaxies. It was first suggested by Fritz Zwicky in 1933 when he observed that the mass of galaxies within the Coma cluster was much larger than the mass of luminous material, indicating the presence of unseen mass . This "missing mass" problem was later confirmed by measurements of rotation curves of disc galaxies, which showed that galaxies are surrounded by extended halos of dark matter .
Baryonic Matter: The Visible Universe
The remaining 5% of the universe is made up of baryonic matter, which includes all the ordinary matter that we can observe, such as stars, planets, and galaxies 36. This visible matter is what most physicists study, but it constitutes only a tiny fraction of the universe's total content .
Conclusion
In summary, the universe is mostly made of dark energy (70-75%) and dark matter (25-30%), with only a small fraction (5%) being baryonic matter. These discoveries have significantly shifted our understanding of the universe, highlighting the vast unknowns that still exist in cosmology. The ongoing quest to understand dark energy and dark matter continues to be one of the most intriguing challenges in modern physics.
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