Dark Matter and the Dinosaurs: The Astounding Interconnectedness of the Universe by Lisa Randall | Key Takeaways, Analysis & Review

By IRB Media

Inside this Instaread of Dark Matter and the Dinosaurs:

· Overview of the book

· Important People

· Key Takeaways

· Analysis of Key Takeaways

• Language: English
• Publisher: IRB Media
• Release date: Dec 10, 2016
• ISBN: 9781944195564

IRB Media

With IRB books, you can get the key takeaways and analysis of a book in 15 minutes. We read every chapter, identify the key takeaways and analyze them for your convenience.

Book preview

Overview

Dark Matter and the Dinosaurs by Lisa Randall proposes to explain the causes of the meteoroid that wiped out the dinosaurs using a dark matter model. It also describes a wide range of scientific findings to illustrate the interconnectedness of the cosmos to life on Earth.

Dark matter is an invisible substance that only interacts with ordinary matter through gravity. It is present everywhere in the universe, but it does not reflect or emit light. Its existence explains what exerts the gravity that binds some structures together, even though it cannot be directly observed.

Dark matter has existed since the beginning of the universe. Fluctuations in the density of radiation in the early universe attracted ordinary matter together to eventually form stars. Asteroids, comets, and meteoroids mostly formed in disks of material that eventually also formed planets. Other objects formed from the protoplanetary disk collected in asteroid belts and the Oort cloud, which is so far away that it is only weakly affected by the sun’s gravity. There are around 10,000 near-earth asteroids, though they present a low threat of collision. Comets, which orbit the sun and contain volatile chemicals, have a weak atmosphere and may have introduced quantities of water and amino acids to the Earth.

There have been five mass extinctions on Earth. The dinosaurs were eliminated between the Cretaceous and Paleogene periods, in the K-Pg extinction. Levels of iridium and other rare elements, together with