Alternative Theories
Although dark matter is the most popular theory to explain the various astronomical observations of galaxies and galaxy clusters, there has been no direct observational evidence of dark matter. Some alternative theories have been proposed to explain these observations without the need for a vast amount of undetected matter. They broadly fall into the categories of modified gravity laws and quantum gravity laws. The difference between modified gravity laws and quantum gravity laws is that modified gravity laws simply propose alternative behaviour of gravity at astrophysical and cosmological scales, without any regard to the quantum scale. Both posit that gravity behaves differently at different scales of the universe, making the laws established by Newton and Einstein insufficient.
Read more about this topic: Dark Matter
Famous quotes containing the words alternative and/or theories:
“If you have abandoned one faith, do not abandon all faith. There is always an alternative to the faith we lose. Or is it the same faith under another mask?”
—Graham Greene (1904–1991)
“Philosophers of science constantly discuss theories and representation of reality, but say almost nothing about experiment, technology, or the use of knowledge to alter the world. This is odd, because ‘experimental method’ used to be just another name for scientific method.... I hope [to] initiate a Back-to-Bacon movement, in which we attend more seriously to experimental science. Experimentation has a life of its own.”
—Ian Hacking (b. 1936)