Question

write an essay on space -an unsolved mystery

Answer 1

Think spooky phenomena and you might think of ghosts, ghouls and other things that go bump in the night. But forget Edgar Allen Poe, for creepy tales of the unexplained you need look no further than your nearest physics textbook.

Our world is shaped by all sorts of unseen forces that we don’t fully understand. So let’s take a look at some of the unsolved mysteries that plague the minds of physicists. From dark matter to the multiverse, it’s time to delve into a world in which truth is stranger than fiction.

1. Dark Matter – The Spider’s Web

Planets, stars, asteroids, galaxies – the things that we can actually see – make up less than 5% of the total universe. Scientists think another ~25% is a strange substance called dark matter: we can’t see it, we don’t understand it, but we’re pretty sure it’s out there because everything moves to its gravitational tune.

Scientists believe that dark matter acts like a spider’s web, holding fast-moving galaxies together. And there’s so much of this stuff that it bends the appearance of space, so that when astronomers observe distant galaxies, they often appear distorted.

We have plenty of evidence that dark matter exists, but as for what it is, that remains a mystery. Some think dark matter is composed of an undiscovered particle or particles, others believe it’s an undiscovered property of gravity. Whatever the truth, dark matter is a real puzzle, and it’s proved hugely tricky to pin down.

2. Dark Energy – The Poltergeist

So if dark matter makes up 25% of the universe and normal matter makes up 5%, what about the other 70%?

We think that the remainder is entirely ‘dark energy’, powerful enough to tear the entire universe asunder. Whilst dark matter appears to mesh galaxies together, dark energy seems to want to push everything apart.

We all know that the universe is expanding, but it’s expanding more and more quickly than it should be, and scientists think that dark energy is the culprit.

But where’s dark energy coming from? Some believe that it’s produced from collisions between quantum particles, but no-one knows for sure.

3. Quantum Entanglement – Spooky Action

Famously dubbed ‘spooky action at a distance’ by a dubious Albert Einstein, quantum entanglement is the phenomenon by which two particles in totally different parts of the universe can be linked to one another, mirroring the behaviour and state of their partner.

Quantum entanglement is a bit of a nuisance for classical physics, because it breaks some fundamental laws that we previously thought unbreakable. For particles to be connected across such vast distances, they must be sending signals to one another that travel faster than the speed of light: a feat previously considered impossible. What’s more, objects are only supposed to be affected by their surroundings; the notion of a particle being affected by something happening on the other side of the universe is just...strange.

Nonetheless, studies suggest that quantum entanglement does indeed exist. And even though we don’t understand it, we could still potentially use it. Because of its spooky characteristics, entanglement could eventually become the bedrock of next-generation computing and communications. So watch this space.