missing mass

American  

noun

Astrophysics.

1. the difference in mass in the universe between that observed to exist and that necessary for the closed universe model.

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missing mass Scientific  

/ mĭs′ĭng /

1. See dark matter

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Etymology

Origin of missing mass

First recorded in 1975–80

Example Sentences

For more than two decades, only one experiment in the world has consistently reported detecting a signal of dark matter — the Universe’s missing mass that physicists have long tried to identify.

From Nature • Mar. 18, 2019

The crash produced a new black hole containing 21 times the mass of the sun—the missing mass from the parent black holes was converted to energy in the form of gravitational waves.

From Salon • Jun. 16, 2016

The missing mass times c2 equals the binding energy of the nucleus—the greater the binding energy, the greater the missing mass.

From Textbooks • Aug. 12, 2015

It has been suggested that these particles might play a role in the mystery of the Universe's "missing mass", which is known to exist because of its gravitational influence on the "stuff" we can see.

From BBC • Dec. 24, 2012

The missing mass has been converted into energy.

From "Meltdown" by Deirdre Langeland