If dark matter is 'invisible,' how do we know it exists?

Jan 26, 2020
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I agree. I think it is a clutching at straws scenario. We cannot explain certain effects, so we've invented something to fill the void. I think it is more likely there is a fifth force at play; or we truly have misunderstood gravity. it's possible under certain conditions that gravity acts differently to what we understand.
 
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Jul 6, 2021
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I agree. I think it is a clutching at straws scenario. We cannot explain certain effects, so we've invented something to fill the void. I think it is more likely there is a fifth force at play; or we truly have misunderstood gravity. it's possible under certain conditions that gravity acts differently to what we understand.
I personally think gravity is the culprit. Dark matter is overthinking the whole situation. The KISS principle should be the guiding rule in science.
 
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Jan 26, 2020
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I personally think gravity is the culprit. Dark matter is overthinking the whole situation. The KISS principle should be the guiding rule in science.
Space is so vast and as much as we think we understand what is going on in the Universe, our understanding is very limited. Gravity as you mentioned might very well be the culprit. Our understanding of gravity, when boiled down is what we know here in our little sector of the universe. The way objects act in the Kuiper belt for instance and how, even though we're yet to find a planet nine (or ten if you want to include Pluto), shows how little we understand about gravity. We're assuming there is a larg obejct roaming in that region of space, but it's quite possible that that great white whale might not exist. I'm not sure what the obsession with dark matter is, but they love to push it like it's fact, even though there are other equally plausable hypothesis out there to explain these effects.
 
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Apr 18, 2020
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I'm also inclined to think of "dark matter" as this century's "ether," i.e. a mysterious intangible substance postulated to explain what otherwise seems impossible (in that case it was the propagation of electromagnetic waves through empty space).

It would help if they didn't call it dark "matter," since it also doesn't follow another basic law of "matter," namely that different objects can't occupy the same space at the same time. And if it does have such a gravitational effect, why doesn't it form into clumps, like ordinary matter?

Since in fact the only evidence there is of this stuff is certain gravitational effects, why not seek an explanation of these effects in terms of a better theory of gravity, or of spacetime? That would seem to better satisfy Occam's Razor, by avoiding the supposition of an insubstantial substance that can't be seen or felt.
 
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