• Question: Is there any difference between antimatter, dark matter, dark energy, and degenerate matter?

    Asked by anon-258065 on 2 Jul 2020.
    • Photo: Julian Onions

      Julian Onions answered on 2 Jul 2020:


      In a word, yes!

      Antimatter is the opposite of matter, when the two meet they destroy each other. Antimatter is like matter’s evil twin.
      Dark matter is a hypothetical particle we think exists and is 5 times as common matter, but undetectable by most obvious means.
      Dark Energy is a hypothetical force that we think might exist, that works on very big scales to push galaxies apart.
      Degenerate matter is just ordinary matter that has been very very squashed, so the atoms are packed as tightly as they will go, and as a result has some very odd properties!

      So they are all different things!

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