Black hole definition: a region of spacetime from which nothing, not even light, can escape. Around a black hole is an 'event horizon', which marks, as Wikipedia so perfectly put it, "the point of no return". Once matter has crossed this border, they can only move inwards to the heart of the black hole - their doom.
These things can swallow whole stars, dragging them by the ankles, with no say on the matter. Should we be anxious? Not even a little bit?
Black holes come in many sizes. The largest cause matter to collapse inwards and suck them into a deep, frankly angry pit of despair and whatnot. At the other end of the scale, the smallest black holes evaporate because of Hawking radiation.
The weighty, robust black holes can be detected due to how light bends around other objects as a cause of the black hole's pull of gravity. But what about the moderately-sized black holes; not the puny puffs of smoke, not the great, lumbering boulders. The smooth, handsome pebble, sitting in your hand with a comfortable, satisfying weight.
Sorry to go all poetic there - the pebbles of deep space I am waxing lyrical about are approximately 109 to 1020 tonnes, existing since the Big Bang and still cruising relatively peacefully through galaxy and solar system alike.
Now, if a black hole like that was to collide with our lush, green planet, we would know about it. At a speed of approximately a few hundred kilometres/second, this pebble would have a much larger impact than a small, thumb-sized rock plopping into the Pacific. It would actually penetrate the Earth, end to end, creating a tiny, nucleus-sized tunnel through our beloved planet and emerging out the other side. As though it was holding an apple corer in front of it as it charged at us. Or something like that.
As it exited from the Earth's outer core, the core would vibrate, creating "spherically symmetrical shock waves". The effect would be global, but not apocalyptic, fortunately. A magnitude-4 earthquake, yes. Many seismologists dropping their hats and exclaiming in a panicky, excitable fashion, yes. But not 'The Day After Tomorrow'-style, end of the world brouhaha.
No. That will come when Martians decide they want a taste of the high-life and overthrow the human race. Just you wait, they won't be able to resist Maltesers. Nobody can. It's a fact of life. And it will be our downfall. Cheerio!
References and Quotes: The New Scientist, Wikipedia
How is a black hole actuall form? I have a feeling that it just pops up in thin air...
ReplyDeleteThe main theory is that when a star comes to the end of its life and can no longer use nuclear energy to keep it blown up like a balloon, it has used up all of its nuclear fuel where this energy is stored. It isn't strong enough now to resist its own gravitational pull and collapses in on itself, forming the black hole. Hope this helps! :D
ReplyDeleteWhy can't we do this in Physics?! It sounds so much more interesting that pressure on coke cans........
ReplyDeleteI KNOW! And ROBOTS! Can you imagine how awesome it would be if Asimo were to one day waltz into the physics lab?! AHH!
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