Black holes Definition and 1000 Threads

  1. K

    Evidence that black holes gain in mass?

    Please correct me if I am wrong, as I have little more than a high school knowledge of physics until I start at university this year - virtually no knowledge of the quantum side of things just yet. ^^ My thought is, as spaghetification occurs as you approach the centre (not using singularity...
  2. A

    Black Holes and Thermodynamics: Exploring Entropy and the Second Law"

    I read in a book that since the area of a black hole increases, the entropy increases, so black holes are consistent w/ the second law of thermodynamics. So...I have a really stupid question on black holes and the second law of thermodynamics: Consider an ideal gas of non-interacting...
  3. B

    How can Black Holes emit radiation?

    I know that black holes are still not entirely understood, but I do know that it's generally accepted that they emit Hawking radiation. But I've also heard that the gravitational pull of a black hole is so strong that nothing can escape, "not even light". So how is it possible that Hawking...
  4. C

    How do black holes relate to physics?

    I have to write a research paper on a topic of my choice for physics class, I chose black holes simply because they interest me and it was one of the few topics unchosen. Can anyone with more scientific intellect then myself provide some insight as to how black holes relate to physics? Just some...
  5. X

    Are Black Holes Deceivingly Still?

    To my understanding, as an object approaches the event horizon of a black hole, the light that is seen by a relatively static observer slows down more and more until the light is eventually "trapped" on the event horizon, making it appear to the observer as though the object is standing still...
  6. Elroch

    Rotating black holes, causality and time travel ramble

    It is well-known that associated with the Kerr solution which represents a rotating black hole, there can be a region of space-time where there are loops in space time (non simply connected paths which are navigable in principle). If this is so, it breaks causality and permits time travel in...
  7. R

    First post a question about Black Holes and Gravity

    Hi everyone. I have a very keen interest in physics. Unfortunately at school I was made to do a combined qualification in science which didn't allow me to pursue what I was interested in most. I still try and read and understand what I can about physics and cosmology... but one thing has...
  8. S

    Are supermassive black holes just big stars?

    Simple enough question. I know there are two types of black holes; the type formed after a star collapses in a supernova and the supermassive variety like the one at the center of the milky way. If a star continued to grow by swallowing up other stars and solar systems is it possible that at a...
  9. Elroch

    Large black holes and information

    Hawking and others suggest that it is a very special deal that macroscopic black holes lose quantum information, but I only partially agree. It is clearly important that they do not preserve most quantum numbers - black holes may be a way to break a lot of conservation laws of particle physics...
  10. F

    Black Holes: Falling in and Looking out?

    I think we're all familliar with the old "What if you fell into a black hole?" Event horizons, time dilation (I think is the right term), and spagettification. There is however one thing these thought experiments never seem to cover that I'm really curious about. As I understand this...
  11. J

    Can Neutrinos Escape from a Black Hole and Affect Its Lifespan?

    If neutrinos can move faster than light speed, then can they escape from a black hole? If so, then would the life of a black hole be reduced?
  12. C

    Are black holes really the cookie monsters of the universe?

    http://whoknew.news.yahoo.com/who-knew/black-holes-27425876.html
  13. S

    Why don't we see a lot of matter around black holes? And can we observe it?

    Hello! I just want to start off by saying that I am no physicist or astronomer, so my apologies if my questions are really basic lol (although I am an engineer so I do have some technical background). I am very interested in it though, and I had some questions that I was hoping someone could...
  14. D

    Unraveling the Mysteries of Black Holes and the Big Bang

    Am I correct in saying that in theory Time, Matter and presumably Energy are compressed to a singularity at the centre of a black hole? If that is so then wouldn't they be "transported" back to the state and position they were in at the very beginning of time. In other words the instant of...
  15. narrator

    Entropy, heat death and black holes

    Talking about the big bounce and black holes in another thread made me wonder about the life span of black holes, especially in the heat death scenario. If the U went through heat death, does that mean that black holes would also exhaust their energy? Do black holes die, and if so, what...
  16. X

    Can time slow down infinitely in black holes?

    It is my understanding that time within black holes is slowed down incredibly, and all of the mass is found within this slowed down area. How then could a black hole move if time is slowed down so much (possibly infinitely)? Shouldn't this slowing of time also reduce the speeds of the mass...
  17. T

    Space-Time Black Holes: Measuring Warped Space/Time

    Can the amount of space/time warped by a black hole be measured and if so, where can I find measurements of previously measured black holes?
  18. D

    Black holes and time dilation around the event horizon

    As I currently understand it from the point of view of an observer falling into a black hole it takes a finite time to cross the event horizon and reach the singularity. From the point of view of a far away observer the person falling into the black hole never actually crosses the event horizon...
  19. R

    Black holes, dark matter, the expansion of the universe, and unifying theories.

    A thought experiment I have been thinking about this for twenty years and I would like to hear your opinions. It relates to black holes, dark matter, the expansion of the universe, and unifying theories. This is very simple and beautiful to me. Forgive my lack of formal training, my goal...
  20. B

    Is there a limit to information storage on the surface of a black hole?

    Hello, I'll try to explain this as well as I can... I was watching NOVA's special on The Fabric of the Cosmos and the segment on how information is both lost in the black hole and stored on the surface got me wondering "Is there a limit to how much information can be stored on the surface...
  21. Rlam90

    Exploring My Ideas of Black Holes: Matter & Energy

    I don't like the idea of anything crossing the event horizon of a black hole from any observer's view point. The closer something gets to the event horizon, it either appears to slow down, or the event horizon appears to stretch and move further away. How can anything cross it? For this...
  22. G

    Exploring the Formation of Black Holes: A Curvature in Space-Time

    If gravity is a distortion between space and time, then how come black holes are formed, only the surface of an object should then exert gravity, right?
  23. J

    What Happens When Two Black Holes Collide?

    what happens when two black holes collide?
  24. J

    Neutron Stars vs Black Holes: What's the Difference?

    what is the difference between a neutron star and a black hole?
  25. E

    Using Black holes to view our solar system

    Has anyone figured out or tried this: It seems to me that since light is bent by G fields, that looking close enough to the side of a black hole, some of that light near the event horizon may have escaped its G field after its trajectory has changed significantly... possibly redirected enough...
  26. D

    Those Jets from the poles of black holes

    Can anyone point me to a journal article that describes, mathematically or otherwise, how those jets shoot from the poles of some black holes with accretion discs and AGN. Also, if you will forgive the additional question, is there any reason why the physics that describe the ejection from...
  27. 2

    How do black holes radiate if nothing can escape?

    Hi. So, as title says, how can black holes radiate if nothing can escape from them?
  28. mrspeedybob

    Thoughts on electrically charged black holes

    Suppose there exists a black hole with a large + electrical charge. The escape velocity for any given particle will depend on the net force on it, gravitational + electrical. It seems logical that the more positive a particles charge the lower its escape velocity will be from any given point. If...
  29. B

    How do massive stars like VY Canis not turn into black holes

    Apparently VY Canis Majoris is 30–40 solar masses, also there's R136a1 which is 265 solar masses. How do they remain stars with all that mass?
  30. A

    Why should radiation lead to loss in mass @ Black holes?

    According to theory of black hole radiation, black holes are expected to emit a thermal spectrum of radiation, and thereby loss mass, owing to the E=mc2 equation. Well, everything was clear to me till I got to the last point. why should there be loss only in mass?? couldn't the mass be same and...
  31. P

    Gigantic Black Holes vs White Holes: How Can We Know?

    Hello friends! Forgive me, I have another question for you physicists. We see those active galactic nucley which show enormous emission phenomena, so: How can we know that responsible are gigantic black holes and not white holes? I suppose we guess it, becouse we have some theory on the...
  32. G

    Two identical black holes, but rotating in opposite directions collide

    What would happen? Would the result be a non-rotating black hole? During their collision when their ergospheres overlap, would it generate an area where nothing could move in either direction along the plane of rotation? Also, since the force of their gravitational pull would be the same, would...
  33. M

    The Natural Dispersion of Black Holes

    Black holes are believed to be scattered throughout the universe. These ultra-dense bodies have a gravity field so dense that nothing, not even light can escape. If these bodies are able to consume everything that enters its event horizon than over the billions of years that the universe has...
  34. M

    The shape of black holes and their surroundings

    Hi Guys, Just a thought, if a job of a black hole is to suck everything in it's surrounding to nothing-ness. Then why are the there examples of black holes with jet streams flowing away from their axial poles? Apparently the Earth's gravity field is weaker at the equator, so why does...
  35. D

    How Can We See Light from Black Holes?

    Whenever I see any image of a black hole or in television or anywhere, I found there is a ring of light around the black hole. In discovery channel, I heard them saying that scientist found rings of light in space which had black region inside it. It was also one of the evidence with the help of...
  36. I

    Black holes in tetrad formalism

    Where can i read about the solution of Einstein equations with spherical symmetry in tetrad formalism?
  37. A

    Why is it so accepted that matter falls into black holes?

    It seems like black holes could just as easily be expelling the matter they rip up. Couldn't a black hole just be something that rips matter apart atom by atom and then blasts it back into space? In this case there wouldn't be a need for a singularity. Quasars are one example of how they...
  38. K

    Searching for Microscopic Black Holes in the LHC

    Have we ever observed microscopic black holes in the LHC?
  39. Z

    Proof that micro black holes can't exist?

    I was playing around with some equations and I found a reason why I think micro black holes cannot exist. This proof requires a few assumptions which I have tended to find to be a scientific consensus. They are the following. 1) The smallest mass a black hole can have is the Planck mass which...
  40. T

    Is the Mass of Super-Massive Black Holes Factored into Dark Matter Calculations?

    When it comes to dark matter; Has the mass of the super-massive black holes residing at the core of every galaxy been taken into consideration? Could the total mass of all black holes account for the missing mass in the universe?
  41. K

    Laypersons problems understanding Black Holes

    A description of problems with the common understanding of black holes by this layperson: I have been contemplating black holes since I first heard about them at a lecture series by the then director of the Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles, by Dr. William J. Kaufman circa 1964. It seems...
  42. J

    Can we truly know the fate of objects in black holes?

    According to a recent published article, Physicist Leonard Susskind feels, along with Niels Bohr, that rather than try to come up with a mental picture of what objective reality is, scientists should limit themselves to creating hypotheses and testing them empirically. Susskind contends that a...
  43. C

    Black Holes Schwarzschild radius

    Is Schwarzschild radius trying to state the gravitational field on the event horizon of a black hole? If not, what is it trying to state? Can you give me a example using his formula to figure out the gravitational force of a black hole in the event horizon? Do you have any links I can...
  44. L

    Black Holes : Zero Volume, Infinite Density

    I didn’t believe it when I first heard it. I don't know how to reconcile this fact with what I understand about the known laws of physics. It appears to be one of the grandest mysteries I can think of. I understand that most of the universe is empty space but zero volume is different. Anyways...
  45. bcrowell

    Quantization of mass for black holes?

    "Black Hole Masses are Quantized," Gia Dvali, Cesar Gomez, Slava Mukhanov, http://arxiv.org/abs/1106.5894 There is a nontechnical summary on the arxiv blog: http://www.technologyreview.com/blog/arxiv/ , along with some inflammatory and uninformed speculation about safety at the LHC, including...
  46. E

    Exploring the Reality of Black Holes: Event Horizons vs. Singularities

    Hello to all physics community! I have a question concerning black holes. Are black holes, real holes? And which is the difference between black holes and wormholes?
  47. J

    Exploring the Cosmic Ocean: Water Vapor Around a Feeding Black Hole

    I have read that it is possible that primordial black holes could have formed in many different sizes, from micro black holes to hundreds of solar masses, my question is this. What is the smallest black hole that could survive from this time until now, without being destroyed by hawking...
  48. B

    An upper limit to the size of black holes?

    In an earlier post I make the controversial suggestion that the universe was very heterogeneous in the early stages. I have another conjecture that goes along with that one. Please try to read this with a bit of an open mind. Imagine that there is an upper limit to the size of a black...
  49. P

    Primordial Black Holes: Could Spacetime Form BHs?

    Could the primordial black holes that seeded the first galaxies have been formed from spacetime that never expanded below the critical threshold for black hole formation? If quantum jitters caused the variation in densities seen in the cosmic background radiation, could islands of higher density...
  50. L

    Are black holes theoretical or real?

    The news always depicts them as real http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-13964767 But as far as I gather from reading this forum and wikipedia, black holes are always said to be "candidates" Has it been proven "beyond a reasonable doubt" that they exist?
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