Here is a rough representation of what our universe looks like,
with all its objects.
But wait, what are these black things here?
This is dark matter.
Now let's look at what our universe is made of.
5% of it is what we know, that is, normal matter,
27% is the dark matter that I just mentioned and a whopping 68% is dark energy.
Dark matter is the force that keeps our universe together.
Now, at the speed the universe is spinning at, all the stars should just fly off.
But they don't.
They stay in one place.
They're being held together by a force.
This force is dark matter.
We don't know much about it, because it barely interacts with us.
Here are the 4 fundamental forces:
Gravity, Electromagnetism, the strong nuclear force and the weak nuclear force.
Now, dark matter only interacts with gravity,
and not with any other force.
It also bends any light that touches it,
hence the name "dark" matter.
Now, let's look at dark energy.
Our universe is expanding all the time, and its rate is even getting faster, according to research.
There must be some sort of energy or force inside that makes it expand this way.
Some sort of empty space energy that we like to call "dark energy".
It wants to create more empty space.
And it may keep going forever,
which means, some day in the future, as the stars get farther away from us, there may be no stars in the sky at all.
We don’t know much about dark matter or dark energy, other than the fact that they exist.
Dark Matter is what keeps our universe together. It’s everywhere. You’re swimming in it.
Dark Energy makes our universe expand at an alarming rate, and it keeps getting faster.
This leads us to think, “The universe can’t expand forever. It has to stop at one point.”
Well, sadly, yes, all good things must come to an end. And so does the universe.
But, we don’t need to worry, because the end is billions of years away, maybe trillions.
We won’t live to know for sure. But enjoy life while you can. You are unique in this universe.
Keep going. Don’t stop doing what you’re doing.
Some day, we will find the secrets of Dark Matter and Dark Energy. We can only hope that we live to see that day.
