So, the question at hand is whether dark matter and dark energy affect ordinary atoms? An atom, in physics terms, is a bunch of electrons bound together with a bunch of protons and neutrons to make a more or less stable composite particle. So, an atom is a collection of electrons and nucleons bound together into a more-or-less stable particle, and all those sub-particles occupy bound states of one sort or another. The exact number of particles and, crucially, the specific states they're allowed to occupy make up what we call an atom. So, what would it mean for an atom to be affected by an exotic bit of physics like dark matter or dark energy?

Source: Forbes January 31, 2017 14:26 UTC