Ever since Einstein described the theory of relativity and predicted black holes, in 1915, they've caught the imagination of the human mind. Most people didn't believe such a wild and mysterious concept, and the people that did, thought of black holes as monsters sucking in everything around them. "...the notion of a collapsed star wasn't taken seriously until astronomers started spotting giant stars orbiting indiscernible points in the 1960's."(Vergano, Dan) Then, human technology had advanced enough to prove and begin understanding black holes. Through research, studies, and many amazing pieces of equipment astronomers have discovered that black holes are much more significant than once believed. Black holes are the suspenders of the Universe.
In order to understand how black holes suspend everything, including life on Earth, a basic knowledge of the research and of black holes in needed.
When humans look to the sky they see only cosmic creatures that shine. There's much more to the Universe than the human eye can see, and for some this is hard to believe. Advances in technology have taken great strides in space research. Proving that something is floating out there is now quite simple, even if you can't see it. "They do this by measuring the visible light, X-rays, and radio waves emitted by material in the immediate environment of a black hole."(Meral, Roeland)
Spotting a black hole from light is not as hard as can be imagined. Black holes don’t give off any visible light, but the gasses and stars orbiting the black holes emit strong light X-rays. These gasses and stars create a disk around the black hole that, "...often give off more energy in a second than our Sun emits in a mi...
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...e could start accreting matter and eventually grow into a supermassive one. A third possibility is that supermassive black holes grow from a cluster of smaller black holes that merge."(Bell, Trudy E.) "The bigger the galaxy, it seems, the bigger the black hole."(Dunn, Marcia)
Supermassive black holes and the galaxy can be compared to the Sun and the solar system.(Smith, Heather R.) Without the Sun pulling on the planets they would float off into the galaxy. If there isn't a black hole pulling on all the stars and planets in the galaxy there will be no galaxy. Sagittarius A is like the Sun on an enormous scale. Sagittarius A alone is suspending over 200 billion stars. With the Universe said to be scattered with 300 billion galaxies,(Vergano, Dan) and a black hole at the center of each and every one, it is safe to say black holes are the suspenders of the Universe.
Death by Black Hole: And Other Cosmic Quandaries is a biography that is divided into 5 chapters total and a total of 42 mini sections. Bringing together more than forty of Tyson's favorite essays explores a myriad of cosmic topics, from what it would be like to be inside a black hole to the movie industry's feeble
It is believed that super massive black holes exist in the cores of many large galaxies, including the Milky Way galaxy, which is our galaxy. (Swinburne University 2014). It is believed that a normal black holes were formed because of a supernova explosion of a gigantic star, meaning when huge stars collapse, so the larger the star, the larger the black hole. ( Millis 2014) . So therefore a simple idea of how a super massive black hole might have been formed would be because of a collision of super enormous star or a collision of star clusters (star clouds). (Super massive black holes 2014)
Black holes were originally thought to have only mere mathematical concepts. There was seemingly no possible way to compress any object into a space small enough to equal to its schwarzschild radius. Later however, astronomer Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar calculated that stars much larger than our own sun should theoretically be able to collapse into a black hole (UTFC). A star is like a blown up balloon with the force of gravity trying to compress the balloon inwards and the air trying to push the balloon outwards. Likewise, stars are held in balance by gravity trying to collapse the star inwards going against the outwards pressure of the internal reactions of the star called nuclear fusion. If the star is big enough and the pressure inside quickly disappears, gravity would and should slingshot the star into a tiny point with near infinite density with an extremely strong gravitatio...
Ever look up at the sky and just wonder if there is life anywhere else? Have you seen anything in the sky that is almost unexplainable? What if your thoughts really came true? The thought of the existence of aliens seems to have been around since the beginning of time. There is one incident in particular that really hits home when talking about the subject, the UFO incident of Roswell, New Mexico.
Starting with black holes, Khalili describes the creation of one. I found that a black hole is what remains when a massive star dies. Because stars are so massive and made out of gas, there is an intense gravitational field that is always trying to collapse the star. As the star dies, the nuclear fusion reactions stop because the fuel for these reactions gets burned up. At the same time, the star's gravity pulls material inward and compresses the core. As the core compresses, it heats up and eventually creates a supernova explosion in which the material and radiation blasts out into space. What remains is the highly compressed and extremely massive core. The core's gravity is so strong that even light cannot escape. This object is now a black hole and literally cannot be seen because of the absence of light. Because the core's gravity is so strong, the core sinks through the fabric of space-time, creating a hole in space-time. The core becomes the central part of the black hole called the singularity. The opening of the hole is called the event horizon. Khalili describes that there are two different kinds of black holes:
... For, even if one would see an alien or even just a spacecraft, it would not have enough credence to prove beyond another person’s quizzical denial. Hence, bringing me back to my original issue, if someone really did see this phenomena where are these other people? I believe we will never know the answer regarding extraterrestrials until there is a national revelation of some sort. Once again, the skeptics are left waiting for an answer.
Black holes - the strange scientific phenomenon that has astounded physicists and astronomers alike for decades. Popular subjects in science fiction novels, black holes are one of the greatest enigmas of the scientific world. Even today, the concept of a super-dense ball of matter that not even light can escape from is somewhat farfetched, and many scientists disagree with each other about nearly every aspect of a black hole. This project will attempt to shed some light on these mysterious formations, and will inform you the reader of the most popular and widely accepted theories surrounding them.
The idea of Black Holes was first proposed in the 1700s by scientists John Michell and Pierre-Simon Laplace, who argued, independant of each other, that there might be objects in the universe with such a large gravitational force, that even light could be trapped. Published in 1916 Einstein’s theory of general relativity which included how gravity does affect light’s motion, gave way to scientific discoveries involving black holes. In Einstein’s own theory, he was only able to approximate the solutions to some of his own equations, however Karl Schwarzschild was able to provide the solutions. These solutions described objects like black holes that had such massive density that nothing could escape them. Schwarzschild theorized that if an object had such a small radius, that the escape velocity will be greater than the speed of light. Because as previously mentioned, nothing is faster than the speed of light, the object would be sucked into itself by it’s own gravitational pull, which would cause the object to disappear. What r...
Stephen Hawking is an extraordinary being to say the least. Stephen is possibly the smartest person on the planet, and if he isn’t quite there he is extremely close. Hawking is a very interesting person between his family, being diagnosed, education, and many other things, including his research, he is definitely worth reading about. This paper will inform you of everything you need to know about Stephen William Hawking.
Every day we look into the night sky, wondering and dreaming what lies beyond our galaxy. Within our galaxy alone, there are millions upon millions of stars. This may be why it interests us to learn about all that we cannot see. Humans have known the existence of stars since they have had eyes, and see them as white glowing specks in the sky. The mystery lies beyond the white glowing specks we see but, in the things we cannot see in the night sky such as black holes.
The whole idea of time and black holes has been questioning scientist and many common people for decades. Whether or not the theories provided make it physically possible to allow us to ever use any type of a black hole to an advantage? Technology over these past years has allowed us to learn more and more about what black holes are and what they can do. While also allowing ourselves to discover new possibilities that they might bring forth to greater innovations in our near future. But we can only imagine, through our knowledge and technology, what a black hole could do for us, due to all the dangers they bring forth.
Einstein himself, working at Princeton with Nathan Rosen had discovered that the equations of relativity actually represent a black hole as a bridge between two regions of flat space-time, a phenomenon known as the “Einstein-Rosen Bridge”. Later on, in 1963, the New Zealand mathematician Roy Kerr found that if a black hole is rotating, a singularity still forms, but in the form of a ring, not a point. It was believed that in principle, a particle may be able to fall towards the singularity, but if at some point moved through the hole instead of the ring, the particle may not be lost forever. Therefore, with these theories in mind, a particle falling into a black hole will fall through the ring that the singularity has become, then going through the Einstein-Rosen Bridge, eventually being spewed out of the white hole into another space-time continuum.
Many people who live on Earth are close minded to what is really out there in the universe. They cannot even begin to fathom the vastness of it and how Earth is just a tiny little speck compared to everything else out there. From the planets to the stars and out towards the edge of the unknown, we can only see what science provides us with. From this, we know that we are nothing but a tiny planet located in a solar system of millions in a galaxy of many more in the universe.
Astronomers believe that most galaxies consist of a supermassive black hole at the center, which attracts all constituents of galaxies such as, dust, gases (mainly Hydrogen and Helium), atoms, stars, interstellar clouds and planets to the center by force of gravity, but are not sure whether all galaxies contain a black hole in the center. Galaxies keep moving in relative motion to one another and intermittently can come so close that the force of gravitational attraction between the galaxies may become strong enough to cause a change in the shape of the galaxies, while in exceptional cases, the galaxies may collide. If two galaxies collide, they may pass right through without any effect or may merge, forming strands of stars, extending beyond 100,000 light years in space (World Book Online Reference Centre, 2005). Hence, neighboring and often other colliding galaxies induce the sha...
Black holes are the result of the death of a massive star, leaving behind a dense remnant core that eventually collapses to create a gravitational force so strong that nothing, including light, can escape the force. The theory that black holes existed started back in the early 1900s and since then astronomers and scientists have been trying to get a better understanding of them. This phenomenon has been a working progress for astronomers and scientists for many years and as we develop a better understanding of our solar system, the more likely it is to make a significant discovery that can answer some of the most difficult questions about our incredible galaxy and solar system. The more information we are able to acquire about our universe, the more questions we might be able to answer about our existence. With advancements in technology we may be able to see some significant discoveries and insights into the world of black holes.