It is human nature to want to know as much as we can about the nature of our reality. We are, in a way, born scientists. The curiosity is engrained in all of us and this is evident from how we behave when we are little children.
Growing up, a number of factors chip away at that curiosity. But it doesn't go away completely. It remains deep within us yearning to come out and know the ultimate truth. What does it all mean?
Fortunately, there are people who pursue that question. And these are explorers, researchers, scientists, innovators and so on. Thanks to their relentless pursuit, we have a really good idea about the cosmos that we are a part of.
We have even peered back to almost the beginning of the universe itself and that is just astounding! However, there is still a long way to go. In fact, we might have barely even scratched the surface!
What Is 96% of The Universe Made of?
The short answer is that we just don't know. That's true! And that should blow your mind away. I mean, there is so much stuff in the universe. There are planets, moons, stars, asteroids, gases, dust, black holes, and so much more!!
To give you an idea, let's consider this. There are hundreds of billions of stars in your galaxy. A lot of these stars have planets revolving around them. Also, current estimates suggest that there could be about 2 trillion galaxies out there. Think about that number for a second. Think about the insanity of stuff that is present in all of this.
But all of that constitutes just 4% of the universe. That's right. Everything that we see or hear about forms a tiny part of existence. So, naturally, it begs the question: what is the rest made of?
And that is where it becomes interesting. We just don't know. We can't see it, detect it or even comprehend it. It is postulated that dark energy forms 73% of the universe and dark matter forms 23%. But here's the thing. These are just placeholder names. "Dark" doesn't mean black. It just means something that isn't detectable.
So, in the words of Neil DeGrasse Tyson, "Dark matter is not even what we should be calling it because that implies that it is matter; it implies we know something about it that we actually don't." He even suggested calling it "Fred" because it would have no reference to the actual thing which would perfectly convey that we know absolutely nothing about it!!