Quest for the Dark Heart of the Universe

Located in a clean room at the Kennedy Space Center in preparation for a February launching, is an eight-ton assemblage of magnets, wires, and other electronic components; one of the most ambitious and complicated experiments ever to set out for space.

Scientists hope that the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer will lend important insights into what makes up the universe. In late February or early March, the space shuttle Endeavour will ferry the spectrometer to a permanent berth on the International Space Station (ISS).

But the real destination is the shadow universe. The device is designed to sift the high-energy particles flying through space known as cosmic rays. The experiment, if it succeeds, could help NASA take a giant step toward answering the question of what the universe is made of.

It could also confer scientific glory on both the International Space Station and a celebrated physicist reaching one last time, literally, for the stars. If it fails, it will validate critics who think it a scandal the experiment was ever approved.

You might think you learned in high school that the universe is made of atoms and molecules, protons and electrons, stars and galaxies, but over the last few decades astronomers have concluded (not happily) that all this is just a scrim overlying a much vaster shadowy realm of invisible "dark matter" whose gravity determines the architecture of the cosmos.

If they are lucky, scientists say, the Alpha spectrometer could confirm that mysterious signals recorded by other satellites and balloons in recent years are emanations from that dark matter, revealing evidence of particles and forces that have only been theoretical dreams until now. Knowing what nature is made of could be useful someday in ways nobody can dream. Einstein's curved space-time, equally elusive to the senses, proved crucial to the function of GPS devices that were invented decades after Einstein's death.

ProQuest has created a BookCart learning activity for your students to use: "Hunt for Dark Matter."

This new Cart includes four examples of essential questions for critical thinking that you can assign to your students or you can create and substitute others.

Here are the instructions for copying this BookCart and a hundred others for eLibrary Science:

• Log on to the eLibrary Science TEACHER EDITION to access BOOKCART EDITOR.
• Click the BOOKCART ADMIN link below the Search Box.
• Click the PROQUEST CARTS tab.
• Review the list of Folders on the left margin and click ELS eLibrary Science--BookCarts
• Scroll down and find "Hunt for Dark Matter."
• Click the COPY icon in the ACTIONS column to the right of this title.
• Click RETURN TO MY LOCAL CARTS.

This BookCart can easily be edited for most effective use by your students:

• Click the new BookCart Title with the prefix "COPY OF."
• Delete "Copy of" and then type your first and last name in the AUTHOR boxes.
• Type your email address in the EMAIL box next to Author boxes.
• Optional: Edit the sample of STUDENT DIRECTIONS in the DESCRIPTION box.
• Optional: Edit the ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS in the Description box.
• Scroll down and click SAVE.
• Click MY LOCAL CARTS tab to see your newly edited and ready to use learning activity.

Assign students to write a report of at least 150 words or a presentation of at least seven slides. Students should cite at least three resources and use the pathfinder listed below to save time and find the most relevant resources.

Students should address the essential questions (you can add or substitute others) below:

• What is anti-matter and how is it related to dark matter?
  
  
• Why is it important for scientists to hunt for dark matter?
  
  
• What are some practical applications of the knowledge of dark matter and anti-matter?
  
  
• What science is behind the tools that will hunt for anti-matter?

1: Type "Dark Matter" in the Search box > Enter "Dark Matter" in Document Title > Sort results by DATE

2: Type "Antimatter" in Search > Input "Antimatter" in Document Title > Sort results by DATE