There is much more to the universe than we can see. In fact, we are only seeing about 5% of it! The remainder is comprised of dark matter and dark energy. 

Dark Matter Day is an initiative of the Interactions Collaboration, a global group of particle physics communicators, that aims to shine a light on this mystery and on the work of scientists to understand this silent, unseen, and massive presence in our universe.  

On and around October 31, 2019 when the world celebrates the historic hunt for the unseen, SNOLAB will be no exception. We are organizing dark matter day events and activities over the month of October. Find something that interests you from the list below and attend an event in person or join us online. Be sure to check back often for surprise events and mystery guests!  

Don't be afraid of the dark; follow along and connect with us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram @SNOLABscience.

SNOLAB DARK MATTER EVENTS

Dark Matter Pumpkin Search at Dynamic Earth

As part of the spook-tacular, family friendly Halloween activities happening at Dynamic Earth in Sudbury, visitors can search for the 5 galaxy pumpkins and learn about the dark matter detectors at SNOLAB. There is a pumpkin for each of the dark matter experiments underway in the lab! 

WHEN: October 4th-27th, Fridays and Saturdays from 5:00 pm - 11:00 pm; Sundays from 5:00 pm - 9:00 pm

 

Dark Matter Live Webcast with Exploring by the Seat of Your Pants 

Join SNOLAB Research Scientist Dr. Erica Caden and Exploring by the Seat of your Pants for a live webcast about the underground science at SNOLAB. Erica will show off some of our experiments that we use to detect dark matter! 

Tune in with Erica and Joe here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvQkEzcH9f_9OylEdmALiWg

WHEN: Wednesday, October 23 from 1:00 pm - 1:45 pm

WHERE: Exploring by the Seat of Your Pants Youtube Channel

LINK: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvQkEzcH9f_9OylEdmALiWg

COST: Free 

 

Dark Matter Day Activities at the Sudbury Market

Dark Matter Day is coming up on October 31st! Here at SNOLAB, we're on the hunt to be the first to detect dark matter. Scientists from around the world work deep underground in our lab trying to detect these mysterious particles. Join us to learn more about dark matter with a family-friendly dark matter scavenger hunt at the market! 

WHEN: Saturday, October 26th from 10:00 am - 1:00 pm

WHERE: CP/VIA Rail Station on Elgin Street, Sudbury ON

COST: Free

 

Dark Matter Trivia Night with Nickel City Trivia

Think you know your dark matter stuff? Come on down to the Townehouse Tavern for dark matter themed Nickel City Trivia. Gather a crew or play solo to compete for fun prizes, including SNOLAB swag!. 

WHEN: Tuesday, October 29th from 8:00 pm - 10:00 pm 

WHERE: The Townehouse Tavern, 206 Elgin Street, Sudbury ON

Link: https://www.greatersudbury.ca/play/the-market/ 

COST: Free

 

Dark Matter Day Facebook Live with SNOLAB Scientists

Join SNOLAB research scientists for a live webcast about the dark matter research going on at SNOLAB. We will talk about what we know and don't know about dark matter, and what it's like to work underground. Get your questions ready!

WHEN:  Thursday, October 31st, time TBD

WHERE: Online

LINK: https://www.facebook.com/SNOLABscience/

COST: Free 

 

DARK MATTER TEACHING RESOURCES   

Dark Matter Lesson Plans

► Classroom Kit: This grade 11 and 12 classroom kit from Perimeter Institute can be downloaded in English or French, free of charge from the Perimeter website. The kit provides teachers with print and digital resources to support hands-on, student exploration of concepts related to gravity and orbital motion, gravitational lensing, measuring mass of galaxies, and theories of dark matter.

LINK: The Mystery of Dark Matter classroom kit

 

► Lesson Plan:  In this lesson plan from Sonoma State University students in grades 9-12 will learn about dark matter how scientists are trying to detect this matter that is not visible.  In the lab activity students will use several methods to determine what "hidden matter" lies between two paper plates. 

LINK: Dark Matter: Probing What You Can't See (lesson plan)

LINK: Dark Matter: Probing What You Can't See (lab activity) 

 

► Dark Matter Handout: This dark matter handout from SNOLAB provides an introduction to dark matter and to the dark matter experiments currently underway at SNOLAB.  

LINK: Dark Matter Handout in English 

LINK: Dark Matter Handout in French 

Dark Matter TedED Lessons

► How to build a dark matter detector:  More than 2 kilometers below the surface of northern Ontario, suspended in 345,000 liters of ultra-pure water, there’s a perfect sphere. Scientists continuously monitor this chamber, looking for a glimmer of light in the darkness. Why? Because that light would indicate the presence of one of the universe’s greatest mysteries: dark matter. Jenna Saffin describes how this dark matter detector works.

LINK:  How to build a dark matter detector - Jenna Saffin

 

► Dark Matter: The matter we can't see:  The Greeks had a simple and elegant formula for the universe: just earth, fire, wind, and water. Turns out there's more to it than that -- a lot more. Visible matter (and that goes beyond the four Greek elements) comprises only 4% of the universe. CERN scientist James Gillies tells us what accounts for the remaining 96% (dark matter and dark energy) and how we might go about detecting it.

LINK:  Dark matter: The matter we can't see by James Gillies

 

► Shedding a light on dark matter:  Physicist Patricia Burchat sheds light on two basic ingredients of our universe: dark matter and dark energy. Comprising 96% of the universe between them, they can't be directly measured, but their influence is immense.

LINK: Shedding light on dark matter  by Patricia Burchat

 

► Could we Create Dark Matter:  Eighty-five percent of the matter in our universe is dark matter. We don’t know what dark matter is made of, and we’ve yet to directly observe it, but scientists theorize that we may actually be able to create it in the Large Hadron Collider, the most powerful particle collider in the world. So how would that work? CERN scientist Rolf Landua explains how to discover a new particle.

LINK: Could we create dark matter? by Rolf Landua

 

Dark Matter Video Games

► Created to accompany the Perimeter Explorations "Mystery of Dark Matter" classroom kit, this video game challenges students to apply what they've learned as they add stars, planets, and black holes to a galaxy.

LINK: PI Dark Matter Video Game

Link:  Information and resources for PI Dark Matter Video Game

► A dark matter game from McGraw-Hill Education that lets students vary the amount of dark matter in a galaxy and see how it effects the orbital speed of stars.  

LINK: Dark Matter Video Game

 

Dark Matter Visualizations

► Illustris Collaboration Data Visualizations 

► KIPAC Data Data Visualizations

► Max-Planck-Institute Data Visualizations

 

 

Attachment	Size
DMD 2019.png	830.5 KB