1 Minute Explanation: Dark Energy vs. Dark Matter vs. Antimatter vs. Degenerate Matter

So what is the difference between dark energy, dark matter, antimatter, and degenerate matter, and does it really matter? I’ll admit, that joke is way overused.

Image Credit: NASA, ESA, and P. van Dokkum (Yale University)

Dark energy is an invisible (hence the word “dark”) force central to the nature of the Big Bang: it’s what’s actively causing the universe to expand at an accelerating rate. It’s a weak but ubiquitous energy that’s evenly distributed throughout the universe. Galaxies are drifting farther apart at an accelerating rate; this is caused by dark energy.

Now on to dark matter. Dark matter does not interact with the electromagnetic force, hence why one does not simply touch dark matter (I made a meme for this one).

Image Credit: Me

Dark matter, like dark energy, is invisible. It cannot be interacted with by ordinary matter except primarily through gravitation — the main way that we know of its existence is through its gravitational interaction with matter. Dark matter’s gravity is what allows for entire galaxies to be held together. If dark matter disappeared all of a sudden, stars and other bodies would begin drifting out of their galaxies. Dark…