In modern day physics, Black Holes have dominated the spotlight for quite some time. While the concept has answered many questions, it has also introduced hundreds more. There is believed to be a black hole at the center of our galaxy, the Milky Way galaxy. Black holes were first proven to exist in the 1970’s when a few scientists identified a black hole called Cygnus X-1. Since then, an intense amount of study has been dedicated to discovering the various properties of black holes.
Merriam Webster defines a black hole as: a celestial object that has a gravitational field so strong that light cannot escape it and that is believed to be created especially in the collapse of a very massive star. The idea of a black hole was first proposed by a one John Michell in the 1700’s. The idea itself was not actively pursued until after Einstein’s theories of general relativity were accepted. Scientist pre-Einstein could not comprehend how a wave such as light could hypothetically be influenced by a force such as gravity. However, when Einstein opened the door, black holes suddenly became a possibility, and it took a better half of a century before their existence could be proven, let alone monitored. Now, we have a better understanding of what black holes are, and how they come to be.
Black holes are believed to be the result of the explosion of a very large star, at least 25 times larger than our own. When the star explodes, much of its matter is blown out into space, resulting in a supernova. However, some of it condenses into a black hole. The approximate mass of the resulting black hole is probably slightly larger than the mass of our sun. There are black holes of much larger sizes, however, and they are gener...
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...he black hole, weird things which we cannot explain occur. A point of singularity occurs, at which point the matter acts as one particle, or so some believe. There are other theories, stating that the sheet, if you will, tears creating a hole leading to something, something we can only conjecture at. One theory believes it is a wormhole, leading to a point far away in the universe, another theory states that it leads to a whole new universe. What actually lies at the center, we will likely not learn for a very, very long time, it is reasonable enough, however, to say that the knowledge will likely not become available until much longer after we are very dead.
Works Cited
Marel, R., & Kleijn, G. (2004, Jan 18) BLACK HOLES: Gravity’s Relentless Pull. Retrieved from http://hubblesite.org/explore_astronomy/black_holes/home.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_hole
Death by Black Hole: And Other Cosmic Quandaries explains about his ability to blend content, accessibility, and humor, Tyson is a natural teacher who simplifies some of the most complex concepts in astrophysics
The origins of the super-massive black holes which concludes how they were formed and what caused them to form is an unsolved problem which is yet a mystery of astrophysics. ( Millis 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.
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:
There is evidence that supports the hypothesis that the Milky Way Galaxy has a massive black hole at its core. At the center of our very own galaxy is a mysterious source of energy. Vast amounts of radiation pour from this compact source which may be a Supermassive Black Hole. Astronomers found an intense radio source with strings of other radio sources clustered about it in the direction of the galactic center. The intense source was named Sagittarius A because the center of the galaxy lies in the direction of the constellation Sagittarius. The position of Sagittarius A as has been observed through radio telescopes around the world seems to be very near the dynamical and gravitational center of the galaxy. Based on its high luminosity and radio spectrum Sagittarius A is neither a star nor a pulsar. It has a luminosity of 5 stars but is smaller than our solar system. Also, it can’t be a supernova remnant since it is not expanding. The strongest evidence that it is a Supermassive Black Hole come...
A Black Hole is defined as an object in space that is so compact, that has a gravitational pull so powerful, not even light can escape its pull. In most cases Black Holes are formed when a massive star (much larger than our own) undergoes a supernova explosion. When this happens, the star may collapse on its own gravitational pull, thus resulting in a an object with infinitely large density and zero volume. As a result, the escape velocity (the speed required to escape the gravitational pull) becomes even greater than the speed of light, and because nothing can travel faster than the speed of light, nothing can escape a black hole.
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.
A collision where one party collides with another and leaves the scene is considered to be illegal in the United States. If a white dwarf would collide with the sun this would be the exact case. It would take around an hour for the white dwarf to go completely through the sun and then after causing great destruction and changing the chemical and physical properties of the sun it would just continue on its path and leave behind massive destruction.
A star will blow up with the help of gravitational collapses. When a star explodes from nuclear fusion it is because so much mass has built up within its core and it cannot hold the weight. Neutrons are the only things in nature that can stop a core implosion. When a white dwarf suffers a supernova, the energy comes from the runaway fusion of carbon and oxygen in the core.
Neutron stars are the leftovers of stars with a mass of four to eight times that of our own sun. A neutron star can be formed when the star goes supernova. A star goes super nova when the star runs out of hydrogen to fuse into helium. When all of the hydrogen is used up, the star starts to fuse helium, and it keeps fusing heavier and heavier elements, until it reaches iron. Once the star tries to fuse iron, the star has effectively died, because fusing iron requires more energy to start the reaction than it will release. As the star fuses iron, it is absorbing energy, and gravity starts to compress the star because the star is no longer able to fight gravity because the fusion in the star has stopped. As soon as the star has been compressed enough, it will restart fusion, releasing incredible amounts of energy, causing a supernova. When a star goes supernova, it blows the outer layers of material off into space leaving only the core. If the star was large enough, only the core will remain. Because the core is unable to produce energy through nuclear fusion, gravity starts to press the core in on itself. As the star gets denser and denser, this process speeds up. Once there is no more room, this process stops
Black Holes Introduction Have you ever thought about black holes how they form, how dangerous, the strength, a mass, or even if what would happen if Earth fell into a black hole? Black holes may seem cool but, after you red this, you will read the dangers and answered questions about black holes. Ask yourself, how would you image a black hole being near a star or planet? Will it be swallowed, sucked, taken apart? Well, black holes have different kinds.
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.
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.
Evidence that the heavens house a previously unknown type of black hole was reported by scientists yesterday. Data from NASA’s Chandra X-Ray Observatory revealed a hole was some 600 light-years from the center of the starburst galaxy M82. The brightness of the x-ray source indicates that this moon-size hole has the mass of at least 500 suns, making it intermediate between stellar black holes and the supermassive black holes found at the centers of galaxies. “This opens a whole new field of research,” said Martin Ward, a lead author on one of three papers to be published on the subject. “No one was sure that such black holes existed, especially outside the centers of galaxies.”