Dark Matter and Dark Energy

Credit: Andreus/Depositphotos

With all the available matter of the universe occupying only 5%, dark matter and dark energy takes up the other 95%. Both dark matter and dark energy are really important and without it out galaxies would not be held together. Before we can understand what dark energy is, dark matter that makes 25% of the world is responsible for slowing down the growth of the universe expansion. When there is a high concentration of dark matter in a spot light is bended. The only thing we know about dark matter is that it is can't reflect or release light but it does interact with gravity and this is really important. This is really important because matter on its own won't be able to keep the galaxy together and that is why dark matter exists. While dark matter slows does the growth of the universe, dark energy accelerates and increases the speed of the universe expansion. Since the Big Bang (about 14 billion years ago) dark energy has been unchanged. It is important to remember that dark energy that is also called cosmological constant is also distributed across space consistently. While we cannot detect or measure the dark energy we do see the effects of it over time. As the universe expands more space is created and with more space, more dark energy is created. According to the quantum theory of matter empty space might just be just temporary particles that can just form and disappear. The universe is constantly expanding and this can also be a bad thing. With the fast and rapid acceleration due to the dark energy can cause galaxies to break apart and stars to get lost around. We don't feel the rapid acceleration of the universe because the gravity in our galaxy holds it together. Right now dark energy is expanding the universe but it is unsure of how long dark energy can keep expanding the size of the universe.

The topic of dark energy and dark matter is really interesting because dark matter and energy have a huge impact in the universe and how it is growing but we still don't know much about it. The fact that we don't know much about it means that everything we know about it can change. I think that even dark matter is just as important because it is slowing it down the process from it growing too fast and destructing all galaxies. Since dark energy is property of space and it makes sense why it can't be explained just like gravity. Since dark energy is super powerful to even change how the universe works, I think using dark energy has an energy source can be really beneficial. For example, for rockets, space stations, rovers can use the dark energy as fuel to power this and since there is a lot of it and more being created this can make dark energy a reliable source of energy. With the power of dark energy things that could not be possible before.