There are a lot of different opinions on what would happen if you flew your space ship into a black hole. So, what do you think would happen? Your guess may be as correct as the astronomers and maybe even more so. No one knows for sure.
Last Sunday, I did mention black holes in my blog titled:
Wondering About Space/Time Distortions
Today, I am going a step further, and it, too, involves black holes:
Let us use the planets as examples of how dense black holes are by showing the sizes of them if they were crushed down far enough to form a black hole. The four inner planets could easily fit on this page. Here is an example of their sizes if they could shrink that far:
OK, how about a few myths about black holes and the reality. The following, along with above chart was taken from Astronomy magazine.
Myth: A black hole sucks in everything around it.
Reality: You have to get real close to a black hole. What it pulls toward and into it is because of its gravity. If our sun collapsed into a black hole, the planets would continue to orbit it as usual.
Myth: Once you cross a black hole's event horizon, you would never be able to escape.
Reality: If you just fell in because of gravity, you would never return. But, if you flew into it in a powerful rocket and had enough fuel, you could fly back out.
Myth: Black holes are super dense.
Reality: True for stellar-mass varieties. But the biggest supermassive black holes in the hearts of galaxies are less dense than water.
Myth: The core of every black hole is a singularity that occupies zero volume and has infinite density.
Reality: Astrophysicists remain divided about this. The smart money is betting that this isn't true.
Thank you Astronomy magazine for this list. I hope this gives you more insight into what black holes really are. Now, if I were you, I would not visit any because I want you to have a really great day, you hear?
I might possibly take exception to the statement that you could fly a powerful rocket with sufficient fuel into a black hole and then fly back out of it. How could anyone be sure of this when no one has done it. They can say "possibly" or even "probably", but I don't believe "It can be done" because there isn't evidence that I know of to prove this. I consider it an unknown.
ReplyDeleteI always thought that anything entering the event horizon would never come back but be torn into particles and shot out the jets. I just took this information out of the Astronomy Magazine, and the list was made up of smarter people than I could ever hope to be.
DeleteWell of course they are smarter than I am, and they are no doubt correct. But I just don't understand it, and I'd like to know how they figure it could happen.
DeleteI think if you fell in to one and got spewed out one of the jets we would be calling you a White Dwarf. ;)
ReplyDeleteNow that got a laugh out of me and I bet you are right. Is that in reference to my white hair and white beard? (grin)
DeleteJust being white, but the hair and beard could add to it.
DeleteYep, I guess I am all of the above.
DeleteYou should sit down and have coffee with my father. He loves reading and thinking about black holes and other space-related topics.
ReplyDeleteI would love to sit down and chat about space-related topics. If I am every up your way, I would like to do that. I usually spend all my Pennsylvania time visiting family and friends in Western PA. but sometimes I get further East.
DeleteOkay.... I'm finally sitting here in TX... a couple glasses of wine down the gullet.... and at this point think the black hole is where that plane in SE Asia is... as well as Amelia Earhart and maybe even Gilligan's Isle.... like, guess I might ponder but don't care a whole lot. Maybe if i thought about this at 10 am instead of pm, .... just too late in the day for this old lady....
ReplyDeleteThere are so many things in the universe that are incomprehensible to me. Some things even seem impossible, like entangled pairs. Hey, that might me another blog subject.
DeleteLike the Odd Essay I think that Malayasian plane is in a black hole...no other explanation how it disappeared off the face of the earth with all the modern technology it was equipped with.
ReplyDeleteCould very well be, but the ocean is a huge place with lots of places for a sunken plain to hide and in some places deep enough so that any signal from it can not be detected. You know, something like a black hole (grin).
DeleteThere was a time that all mysteries were acts of God. Now in our more enlightened and rational secular times all mysteries are explained by the existence of Black Holes. Why is it that we humans can not live without an explanation to the mysteries of our times?
ReplyDeleteFor every mystery solved there are two that pop up to take their place. The fact is, that most explanations for this stuff is just theories and guesses.
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