Even though we don’t understand it, it may be the key to everything we’ve ever known about our universe. For decades now, scientists have observed that the universe appears to be expanding at an accelerating rate, and in 1998, physicists discovered that something may be causing this phenomenon—a force they named dark energy . But what is dark energy exactly? And how do scientists believe it will play into the fate of our universe? Let’s look at both of these questions and more below.
The Nature of Dark Energy
Our understanding of physics is rooted in Albert Einstein’s Theory of Relativity, which tells us that matter and energy affect space-time. With General Relativity, physicists have been able to describe gravity as a distortion in time and space—the more matter there is in a region, or the stronger its gravitational field, the more space-time will be distorted. But according to some theories, including one called quintessence, dark energy might not be made up of particles at all but rather an inherent property of space itself. In fact, it could even be responsible for causing our universe to expand faster than it should. Scientists are still trying to understand what exactly dark energy is (and isn’t), but their best guess is that it accounts for about 70 percent of all matter and energy in our universe.
How do We Know about Dark Energy?
The truth is that we don’t, really. But dark energy makes up roughly 68 percent of our universe, and scientists know it’s out there based on how its gravity affects other matter. Gravity acts very differently on large scales than it does on small scales—gravity becomes much stronger when you are close to a source of mass like a planet or star, says Michael S. Turner, an astrophysicist at The University of Chicago and chairman of NASA’s Advisory Council. If you move away from something massive, however, gravity begins to wane quickly as you get farther away. On these vast cosmic scales, galaxies begin to move apart from one another as they rush away from each other in all directions.
Why Does it Matter to Us?
For all intents and purposes, dark energy is one of those scientific enigmas—it’s something we know exists, but don’t fully understand. Our understanding of dark energy is that it permeates through every part of space. Its influence causes galaxies to rotate faster and stretches space over time. The expansion rate of our universe increases as time passes, with greater distances between planets and stars growing at a faster rate than shorter ones. This means that eventually, everything will be so far apart from each other that they won’t be able to communicate anymore. Scientists believe that in about 5 billion years, Earth will no longer be able to support life. In fact, there are some theories which suggest we may have already entered into a period where Earth can no longer support life due to its increasing distance from our sun (the same goes for Mars). It’s interesting stuff!
Ways Dark Energy Could Kill Us All
It’s speculated that a mysterious, dark energy is working to pull our universe apart. Here are 5 ways researchers think dark energy could destroy everything we know and love. If you haven’t heard of dark energy before, don’t worry—you’re not alone. This strange force was only discovered in 1998 and has been debated by scientists ever since. But some say it might be responsible for tearing apart our universe—and possibly even life itself—in just billions of years from now. So what exactly is dark energy? And how do we know about it at all? The answers may surprise you.
