Editing Talk:2186: Dark Matter

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How can Megan use the dark matter density across the whole solar system to calculate the density within the Earth?  If dark matter interacts with gravity, shouldn't the distribution of dark matter within the Solar system be similar to the distribution of normal matter (i.e. much higher density near massive objects like the Earth)? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.241.124|108.162.241.124]] 17:40, 9 August 2019 (UTC)
 
How can Megan use the dark matter density across the whole solar system to calculate the density within the Earth?  If dark matter interacts with gravity, shouldn't the distribution of dark matter within the Solar system be similar to the distribution of normal matter (i.e. much higher density near massive objects like the Earth)? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.241.124|108.162.241.124]] 17:40, 9 August 2019 (UTC)
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:It interacts with gravity, but in doing so it falls into and through ordinary matter and then just keeps going -- gravity isn't strong enough to slow it down enough to make it bunch up around normal matter. Only galaxies have discernible halos clumped. Most dark matter particles that fall into our solar system would just fall out the other side at the same speed, tossing them into the gravity of another star before they slow down enough to come back, in most cases. The linked density paper talks about the extent of that effect as the basis of their calculations. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.141.184|172.68.141.184]] 01:01, 10 August 2019 (UTC)
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:It interacts with gravity, but in doing so it falls into and through ordinary mass and then just keeps going -- gravity isn't strong enough to slow it down enough to make it bunch up around normal matter. Only galaxies have discernible halos clumped. Most dark matter particles that fall into our solar system would just fall out the other side at the same speed, tossing them into the gravity of another star before they slow down enough to come back, in most cases. The linked density paper talks about the extent of that effect as the basis of their calculations. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.141.184|172.68.141.184]] 01:01, 10 August 2019 (UTC)
  
 
For comparison, it would be nice to have the average density of "regular" matter of the earth, the sun, interplanetary space, interstellar space, etc. --[[Special:Contributions/141.101.105.246|141.101.105.246]] 18:59, 9 August 2019 (UTC)
 
For comparison, it would be nice to have the average density of "regular" matter of the earth, the sun, interplanetary space, interstellar space, etc. --[[Special:Contributions/141.101.105.246|141.101.105.246]] 18:59, 9 August 2019 (UTC)
 
:It's a little less than one fifth overall. However, you can't really have a local density of normal matter because it's clumped into stars and planets. Even at our scale, what's underneath is almost certainly far more dense than what's above you. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.141.184|172.68.141.184]] 01:01, 10 August 2019 (UTC)
 
:It's a little less than one fifth overall. However, you can't really have a local density of normal matter because it's clumped into stars and planets. Even at our scale, what's underneath is almost certainly far more dense than what's above you. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.141.184|172.68.141.184]] 01:01, 10 August 2019 (UTC)

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