300-year-old experiment could become world's best dark matter detector

 

Image courtesy of ESA/Euclid/Euclid Consortium/NASA, image processing by M. Schirmer (MPIA, Heidelberg)

Joel Kontinen

 Is dark matter real? Some scientist are saying that it is not and others are no so sure of it.  Many scientists believe that the universe was created by Big Bang.

In 1773, British scientist Henry Cavendish set up a simple experiment aimed at uncovering the nature of electromagnetism. It involved measuring the electric potential at the surface of two nested metal shells to discern how charged particles affect each other within them.

Now, Peter Graham at Stanford University in California and his colleagues say that reviving Cavendish’s experiment could help reveal an even more mysterious feature of our cosmos – the particles that make up dark matter. Dark matter makes up more of our universe than ordinary matter.

A centuries-old experiment could help accelerate the search for new and exotic particles, including those that make up dark matter.

Source:

Karmela Padavic-Callaghan 2026 300-year-old experiment could become world's best dark matter detector | New Scientist 4 May