Does dark matter really carry five times the energy of ordinary matter?

[DLSieving]

What is meant by the statement by Harvard scientist Lisa Randall that dark matter carries five times the energy of ordinary matter? Does E=mc² not apply to dark matter? Does the statement refer to ordinary energy or to dark energy?

 

[Chalnoth]

What is meant by the statement by Harvard scientist Lisa Randall that dark matter carries five times the energy of ordinary matter? Does E=mc2 not apply to dark matter? Does the statement refer to ordinary energy or to dark energy?

There's about five times as much mass in our universe in dark matter as there is in normal matter.

 

[DLSieving]

Ok thanks. She should have said something more like "Dark matter accounts for five sixths of the total massenergy content of the universe."

 

[Chalnoth]

Ok thanks. She should have said something more like "Dark matter accounts for five sixths of the total massenergy content of the universe."

No, that's not an accurate statement, as there's also dark energy. Her statement was accurate as-is.

 

[DLSieving]

I thank you for your original answer, which makes perfect sense.