A black hole is usually mistaken to be a void of space. However, it is a great amount of matter packed into a compact area. The power of a black hole can be understood when imagining a star ten times more powerful than a sun squeezed into New York City.
The life of a black hole:
After the death of a star from a supernova explosion, only those with more than three solar masses (mass of the sun) become black holes. Other smaller stars become dense neutron stars or white dwarfs. The crushing weight of the star’s core from all sides compresses it to a point of zero volume but infinite density, also known as the singularity. The singularity is the core and the center of a black hole.
Black holes do not die off in an instantaneous explosion. However, they evaporate over lengthy time scales. Although black holes grow in the increase in matter by its strong pull of gravity, black holes could slowly radiate energy and shrink. In this scenario, particles and antiparticles appear, where one falls into the black hole while one gets sent to space. The theory states that this process goes on longer than the duration of the universe.
Structure of a black hole:
The structure of a black hole is calculated by Einstein’s Theory of Relativity. The singularity (infinitely dense) builds and holds the center of the black hole which is then covered by the surface, known as the event horizon. The event horizon has strong gravitational pulls, sucking all items within the radius (Schwarzschild Radius), which has a size proportional to the mass of the collapsing star, into the black hole. For example, for a black hole with a mass ten times as great as the sun, the radius would be 30 km long.
Use THIS calculator to find out more about the equation involved.
Properties of a black hole:
Black holes are known for their strong gravitational pull, which is formed by the strong density and compression within the singularity. Inside the event horizon, the escape velocity (velocity needed to escape) exceeds the speed of light. Therefore, rays of light are also unable to escape from black holes.
Black holes also appear in two radically different size scales:
Small black holes that are about 10 to 24 times as massive as the sun.
Supermassive black holes are millions or billions of times as massive as the sun.
There are no black holes discovered that are in between. Therefore, the size of a black hole can be categorized in one of the two categories.
Black holes, according to the Mach Principle, warp space-time in a way that affects time and light. This distortion causes time to either speed up or slow down, leading to a relative difference in time between Earth and the black hole.
Fun Facts:
Scientists cannot directly observe black holes with telescopes that detect X-ray lights. However, they can infer the presence of black holes and study them by analyzing the effects of surrounding matters.
One supermassive black hole (Sagittarius A) exists at the center of the Milky Way. The mass of the Sagittarius A is 4,000,000 times that of the mass of the sun.
NASA suggests there could be as many as 10 million to a billion stellar black holes in the Milky Way.
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Works Cited:
Baron, S. (2023). Could humans use black holes to time travel? [online] Space.com. Available at: https://www.space.com/are-black-holes-time-machines [Accessed 5 Oct. 2023].
Nasa.gov. (2007). Black Holes - NASA Science. [online] Available at: https://science.nasa.gov/astrophysics/focus-areas/black-holes/ [Accessed 7 Oct. 2023].
Nola Taylor Tillman and Dobrijevic, D. (2022). Black holes: Everything you need to know. [online] Space.com. Available at: https://www.space.com/15421-black-holes-facts-formation-discovery-sdcmp.html [Accessed 7 Oct. 2023].
Stardate.org. (2023). Black Holes | StarDate Online. [online] Available at: https://stardate.org/astro-guide/black-holes-0 [Accessed 7 Oct. 2023].
Black hole | Definition, Formation, Types, Pictures, & Facts | Britannica. (2023). In: Encyclopædia Britannica. [online] Available at: https://www.britannica.com/science/black-hole [Accessed 7 Oct. 2023].
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