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Does Dark Matter Exist

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Dark matter, the unsolved mystery has become a focal point in current research. Scientists have inferred that 5 percent of the universe is made of ordinary atomic matter (stars and galaxies), 72 percent is made of dark energy and 23 percent is made of dark matter [1]. Ordinary matter is easily detected as it emits or reflects light but dark matter is an invisible entity so how do we know it even exists?
Fritz Zwicky was one of the first astronomers to suspect the existence of dark matter through observations of the Coma Cluster, a galactic cluster. Zwicky determined the mass of the Coma Cluster using the velocities of galaxies and then determined the mass based on their light output. He found that the mass calculated based on the velocities was ten times greater than the mass based on the light output.[2] This suggests that there is some unseen, unaccounted for mass that provides enough gravitational force to keep the rapidly moving galaxies bound in the cluster [3]. This unseen mass was dubbed ‘dark matter.’
Nevertheless the scientific community were only convinced by the theory of dark matter after …show more content…

This has led to new theories such as modified Newtonian dynamics, a modified law of gravity, which tries to explain the gravitational discrepancies seen in the motions of galaxies [7]. However researchers have made measurements of the influence of gravity in our solar system which fits our current understanding of gravity. Consequently the modified gravity law would have to preserve the observed behaviour of gravity in our solar system as well as explain the gravitational discrepancies and no such solution have been found. So dark matter can be considered the most viable solution to this problem as evidence of its gravitational effects is enough to indicate its

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