Question: how is dark matter created and what does it consist of from the periodic table?

Andres Olivares del Campo answered on 8 Nov 2016:

This is a very good question! In fact, it is so good that people are not 100% sure about it.

Most people think that Dark Matter was created right after the Big Bang, when the universe was so hot, that many particles were crushing against each other, creating heavier particles like Dark Matter. As the universe expands and cools down, these particles meet other less often and you do not produce any new particles, so that you are left with the ones you created a fraction of a second after the Big Bang. This is known as “thermal production”.

However, as I said, this is debatable and other theories have also being proposed. The reason why thermal production is the most popular one is because it is the same mechanism that produces the normal matter we see.

Now, Dark Matter is not in the periodic table because it is not any type of matter we know of. We have normal matter like protons, neutrons and electrons, which make up the elements in the periodic table, but Dark Matter is not made of any of these particles, in fact, we do not know what is made of and usually called it particle X (or using the Greek x letter , Chi).

If you want to know more about Dark Matter is check: /astatinen16-zone/2016/11/05/what-is-dark-matter/

Thanks for your question!