Black Holes

A black hole is a theoretical region of space in which the gravitational field is so powerful that nothing, not even electromagnetic radiation (e.g. visible light), can escape its pull after having fallen past its event horizon. The term derives from the fact that the absorption of visible light renders the hole’s interior invisible, and indistinguishable from the black space around it. This definition is from Wikipedia.

Drawing of how a black hole might spew out radiationDespite its interior being invisible, a black hole may reveal its presence through an interaction with matter that lies in orbit outside its event horizon. There is much more that can be said about black holes, i.e. their gravitational field, their size, their mass, whether they rotate, and if so how fast. Also considerations as to evaporating black holes, whether they spew out other electromagnetic radiation other than visible light, etc. More considerations such as it’s event horizon, what happens to time as something inside the black hole accelerates toward the center at relativistic speeds.

Although theoretical, now there is good reason to believe there lurks a black hole in the center of galaxies, including our own galaxy – the Milky Way. Black holes may slowly leak a form of thermal energy called Hawking radiation and may well have a finite life.

 

Click links for pages below

Sub-pages Found

 

Sub Pages List

No Comments » Last modified on Nov 8th 2008

Comments are closed.

Trackback URI |