Dark Matter is Ether

[Martin Hash]

Every infinitesimal point in space has an almost infinite number of photons occupying it at any instant in time. How do I know? Because every star can be seen from anywhere. Light is energy, and energy is mass, hence dark matter. This is the 19th Century ether theory.

[heydaralon]

Problems with this theory:

1. Despite supposedly infinite photons, stars cannot be seen inside caves, underground parking garages, or beneath blankets or tarps. My guess would be that those locations align with low photon stars, thus they have difficulty being seen.

2. Ether isn't really a theory so much as a liquid I have sprayed onto lawnmower sparkplugs to get it started. Having a bit of trouble understanding why you are bringing up the 19th century, they didn't have internal compustion engines on the pushmowers back then.

3. If light is really mass, why don't body builders consume LED batteries for gains?


I think its a charming idea Martin, but these are just holes in your theory that I found in less than 5 minutes of deep thinking. Imagine the shellacking this will get from peer review!

[SuburbanFarmer]

Light can be converted to mass, but it has no mass. That's why it's able to travel at the speed of light.

"infinite" photons would result in infinite light levels. There's a lot of photons flying around, but that has nothing to do with infinite density of them.

[Martin Hash]

If light is energy, it is mass.

There are a lot of photons, enough to be the missing “dark matter.”

[heydaralon]

If light is energy, it is mass.

There are a lot of photons, enough to be the missing “dark matter.”

How many grams is a lightbulb? If it is more than it should be, you just subtract the actual lightbulb weight, and the remainder is the mass of the light photons.

[Speaker to Animals]

Photons have zero mass, though.

[heydaralon]

Photons have zero mass, though.

Well, if that's the case, then they don't have energy, and aren't light. No light=dark matter.

[Speaker to Animals]

Photons have zero mass, though.

Well, if that's the case, then they don't have energy, and aren't light. No light=dark matter.

Nah. The whole thing works out because they have a mass of zero. That's why the speed of light is what it is.

[heydaralon]

Photons have zero mass, though.

Well, if that's the case, then they don't have energy, and aren't light. No light=dark matter.

Nah. The whole thing works out because they have a mass of zero. That's why the speed of light is what it is.

If their mass is 0, then they would be crushed by gravity, when they enter into Earth's orbit.



BOOOM!

[Martin Hash]

If E=MC2 (there's some current debate on the issue) then photons have some infinitesimal mass. There's nothing about their speed that prevents this except in the equations that humans made up. And we know that mass affects light...