Dark Matter and the Dinosaurs Book Summary - Dark Matter and the Dinosaurs Book explained in key points

Dark Matter and the Dinosaurs summary

Name: Dark Matter and the Dinosaurs
Rating: 4.4 (56 reviews)
Author: Lisa Randall

Lisa Randall

The Astounding Interconnectedness of the Universe

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4.4 (56 ratings)

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What is Dark Matter and the Dinosaurs about?

Dark Matter and the Dinosaurs (2015) takes a close look at the remarkable interconnections between Earth and the universe around it. These blinks explain how dark matter, the invisible stuff that makes up most of the universe, relates to the mass extinctions of the past and to the comets that might one day bring about another.

About the Author

Lisa Randall is a science professor at Harvard University specializing in cosmology and theoretical particle physics. In 2007, she was named one of Time Magazine’s “100 Most Influential People” and is the author of other books including Warped Passages.

Table of Contents

Key idea 1 of 11

We might not be able to see dark matter, but that doesn’t mean we can’t understand it.

Has anyone ever told you, “I’ll believe it when I see it?”

It’s fine to want tangible evidence of something. But this leaves us on shaky ground when it comes to dark matter; even though it’s all around you, you can’t see it.

In fact, at this very moment, billions of particles of dark matter are moving through you. You can’t perceive them visually because dark matter doesn’t interact with light. Humans also can’t touch or sense dark matter in other ways because it doesn’t have electromagnetic interactions – at least not that science has been able to discover so far.

So, while it’s uncertain what type of particles compose dark matter, it’s clear that they’re not the typical atoms or elemental particles that humans are familiar with and which we can see.

In this way, dark matter is a bit like the microscopic world of bacteria that live all around us. We can’t see bacteria, but they’re essential to our healthy functioning. What’s more astounding is that this invisible dark matter makes up 85 percent of all the matter in the universe!

How do we know?

Well, dark matter can be detected through its interactions with gravity.

Everything in the universe is in constant motion, and the rate at which objects like planets and stars move depends in large part on the gravitational pull of massive objects like the sun.

In the 1930s, scientist Fritz Zwicky was following the velocity of stars and galaxies when he noticed that their visible mass wasn’t enough to account for the gravitational pull being exerted. This led him to the conclusion that there must be matter that we can’t see – he called it dunkle Materie, or “dark matter.”

Dark matter played a significant role in shaping our universe.

So, Zwicky was the first to theorize about dark matter; but since then, a lot more research has been invested in figuring out what exactly it is. Some of the strongest data has been drawn from the cosmic microwave background, ancient radiation that originated during the formation of the universe.

By analyzing this information, scientists can figure out the amount of radiation, matter and energy that were present a mere 380,000 years after the big bang, when the universe was in its infancy. In fact, this data lines up with the research conducted by Zwicky and other scientists, in that it confirms a significant quantity of dark matter, containing five times the energy of all visible matter.

Meteoroids have been hitting Earth for billions of years and might have played an important role in the formation of life.

You now know how dark matter was essential to the formation of the Sun and other planets. But the solar system contains so much more. In fact, craters on Earth’s neighbors, the Moon and Mercury, show that when the solar system was still settling into place, Earth was regularly being struck by meteoroids.

What are those?

Unlike the meteoroids that enter Earth’s atmosphere every day, comets are unique.

Throughout its long history, Earth has experienced intense periods of meteoroid bombardment. But unlike these past events, most space debris that enters the planet's atmosphere today doesn’t make much of an impact. In fact, millions of tiny meteoroids, adding up to 50 tons, burn up in Earth’s atmosphere on a daily basis.

So, on a clear night, away from the light pollution of a big city, it’s not hard to spot a streak racing across the sky, evidence of a meteoroid burning up. But these astrological events shouldn’t be confused with comets.

Devastating meteoroids don’t strike Earth often – but recent ones have revealed their destructive potential.

So, the role that meteoroids played in the development of life on Earth is based largely on speculation. But the destructive power of a meteoroid striking our planet is much better understood. For a perfect example of this, you need look no further than a single event in Tunguska, Russia, in 1908.

Back then, a 50-meter-wide meteoroid exploded in Earth’s atmosphere over Russia, letting loose the equivalent power of a ten to 15 megaton bomb. For reference, that’s 1,000 times stronger than the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima.

The meteorite impact that caused the dinosaur extinction was one of five major extinction events.

There have been five mass extinctions in Earth’s history, transitions with significant consequences for life on the planet.

The first two extinction events delineated the transition between the Ordovician and Silurian periods some 440 million years ago, and the end of the Devonian period, 380 million years ago.

Despite the massive damage ancient meteorites caused, finding evidence of their impacts on Earth isn’t easy.

As you can imagine, a 10 to 15-km-wide meteoroid could do some serious damage if it were it to hit Earth. Assuming the object that hit our planet 66 million years ago was traveling at a velocity of at least 20 km per second, it would have the power of 100 trillion tons of TNT – that’s more than one billion times the explosive force of the Hiroshima bomb.

Such an event would cause devastating winds, tsunamis, tidal waves and an earthquake so powerful it would be felt all over the world. But it would also result in trillions of tons of material being launched into the atmosphere. That, in turn, would result in the heat caused by the impact to become trapped in the planet, causing Earth’s surface to cook.

Some very specific clues led to the discovery of the K-Pg crater.

Figuring out where the K-Pg meteoroid landed took some serious investigation. But one clue was especially helpful: given the predicted size of the meteor, the crater it caused should have been about 200 km wide. This knowledge, along with two major leads, led scientists to the impact crater.

First, geologists who were working for the Mexican oil company Pemex found odd magnetic disturbances off the Yucatan peninsula in the Gulf of Mexico. In the 1970s, a magnetic survey was carried out, showing that the disturbances were caused by a circular region about 180 km in diameter.

Evidence suggests that there may be a regularity to mass extinctions caused by comets.

While the Chicxulub crater was a major discovery, it’s by no means the only such crater that scientists have found on Earth. In fact, scientists have been gathering all the data they can on Earth’s impact craters, and the results suggest that there might be some regularity to comet strikes.

For instance, research on fossil records points to a regular extinction every 30 to 35 million years.

The Milky Way’s galactic tide and our solar system’s orbital path offer possible explanations for why comets come from the Oort cloud.

So, why do these potentially cataclysmic comets leave the Oort cloud?

Well, one of the best explanations has to do with how our solar system moves through the galaxy. As the solar system orbits the center of the Milky Way on a 240-million-year journey, it can experience what’s known as a galactic tide caused by the gravitational force of the Milky Way.

Only time will tell if dark matter is the reason for the massive meteoroids that hit Earth every 32 million years.

Okay, so you’re probably wondering just how dark matter relates to comets hitting Earth, and the facts are all about to come together. As the author suggests, in addition to galactic tides, dark matter might explain massive meteorites striking the planet.

In fact, it’s possible that more than one type of dark matter exists. After all, there are plenty of types of other known particles like quarks and neutrinos, so it’s not unreasonable that there could be multiple forms of dark matter. One such type might be self-interacting dark matter, dark matter that’s attracted to itself and which therefore clumps into a higher density.

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Who should read Dark Matter and the Dinosaurs

Scientists and students of science
Anyone interested in how the dinosaurs became extinct
People curious about Earth’s early history

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Dark Matter and the Dinosaurs summary

Listen to the first key idea

What is Dark Matter and the Dinosaurs about?

About the Author

We might not be able to see dark matter, but that doesn’t mean we can’t understand it.

Dark matter played a significant role in shaping our universe.

Meteoroids have been hitting Earth for billions of years and might have played an important role in the formation of life.

Unlike the meteoroids that enter Earth’s atmosphere every day, comets are unique.

Devastating meteoroids don’t strike Earth often – but recent ones have revealed their destructive potential.

The meteorite impact that caused the dinosaur extinction was one of five major extinction events.

Despite the massive damage ancient meteorites caused, finding evidence of their impacts on Earth isn’t easy.

Some very specific clues led to the discovery of the K-Pg crater.

Evidence suggests that there may be a regularity to mass extinctions caused by comets.

The Milky Way’s galactic tide and our solar system’s orbital path offer possible explanations for why comets come from the Oort cloud.

Only time will tell if dark matter is the reason for the massive meteoroids that hit Earth every 32 million years.

Key ideas in Dark Matter and the Dinosaurs

We might not be able to see dark matter, but that doesn’t mean we can’t understand it.

Dark matter played a significant role in shaping our universe.

Meteoroids have been hitting Earth for billions of years and might have played an important role in the formation of life.

Unlike the meteoroids that enter Earth’s atmosphere every day, comets are unique.

Devastating meteoroids don’t strike Earth often – but recent ones have revealed their destructive potential.

The meteorite impact that caused the dinosaur extinction was one of five major extinction events.

Despite the massive damage ancient meteorites caused, finding evidence of their impacts on Earth isn’t easy.

Some very specific clues led to the discovery of the K-Pg crater.

Evidence suggests that there may be a regularity to mass extinctions caused by comets.

The Milky Way’s galactic tide and our solar system’s orbital path offer possible explanations for why comets come from the Oort cloud.

Only time will tell if dark matter is the reason for the massive meteoroids that hit Earth every 32 million years.

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