A little background knowledge about black holes first would be ideal for you to understand the answers to the questions. Black holes are caused by the dying of an incredibly large star, this is called a supernova. The black hole is created when the inner core of the star collapses in on itself, after its outer shell has exploded, and the core continually gets smaller and denser.Though they are invisible, we know black holes exist. Their invisibility is due to the fact that they neither emit or reflect light, this is an effect of their gravitational force being so strong at their event horizon. Since this gravitational force is so strong, it bends light around it. Also, the spinning of matter around the black hole creates extreme heat producing x-rays emissions. These emissions can be seen using a special type of tool.
Now that you know a little bit about black holes and why they exist, lets start answering questions. The answer to the first question of what would happen if you were sucked into a black hole is just this, you would die. Not only would you die but you would be ripped in half, this would happen because the gravitational force of the black hole is so great that whether you dove into a black hole head first, or jumped in feet first the region of extremities closest to the black hole would be pulled with such force that you would literally be ripped in half, or if in fact you found a way to travel fast enough into the center of a black hole to not be ripped apart, the heat from the x-ray emission would cause the burning of your entire body so quickly you couldn't get the word M-O-M out before you weren't burnt like crisp bacon.
Finally, if you were able to survive and make it to the center of the black hole, crossing the event horizon, you would never be able to tell anyone about your adventure inside this incredibly powerful and dangerous force because light cannot even escape a black hole, and we know from theory of general relativity that no material object can travel faster than the speed of light. Unfortunately, since you are made of matter, and cannot travel faster than the speed of light, you too would be stuck in the black hole with no way of returning to Earth.
Bibliography Links
http://science.nasa.gov/astrophysics/focus-areas/black-holes/
http://hubblesite.org/explore_astronomy/black_holes/
http://www.astro.umd.edu/~miller/teaching/questions/blackholes.html
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ReplyDeleteZebulon Hilyard (zebulonh)
ReplyDeletePretty dark post, but really cool to envision all of the images you described. I think it is crazy that there is any force of gravity that does not let even light escape from it. I understand that this post is completely hypothetical but I can see how it does a great job explaining the properties and characteristics of a black hole, from its event horizon to the center of the hole
No one has actually visited a black hole because 1. we can't see them and 2. because of the vast distances between us and them. With our current technology it would take us a REALLY long time to get there.
ReplyDeleteOn another point, the larger the black hole, the more likely it is that you could potentially survive for a longer period of time. Larger black holes have a stronger force of gravity which causes that force to be more evenly spread throughout your falling body. Also, if you when in arms first (instead of head or feet first) you would be more likely to survive because your body wouldn't be stretched as far.
Interesting post. However, with your mention of the event horizon, I thought I would point out that physicists are still debating their characteristics and even questioning their existence altogether. Recently, Stephen Hawking published a paper that refers to an "apparent horizon" instead of the more commonly known event horizon. This apparent horizon solves a few problems including explaining why the event horizon is not a large ring of fire as well as allowing for eventual disappearance of the horizon (countering permanent information loss). For more information on this visit http://time.com/2048/black-holes-hawking/
ReplyDeleteThis was probably the most interesting post that I have seen. You do a great job explaining in great detail what would happen, to the best of science's knowledge, if we could travel into a black hole. The scariest part about black holes is that if I remember correctly once you enter the event horizon you leave the observable universe. Of course like you pointed out no one knows exactly what happens when you go into a black hole however we know that due to the high forces of gravity, you will be killed when you enter a black hole and you will never escape. The good thing is that the odds of entering a black hole are very small because they are so small in diameter.
ReplyDeleteI must say this was one of my favorite blog posts I've read all semester long. It's sobering to think how fragile we are as organisms and that everything you just talked about requires the assumption that we have enough to eat, we don't freeze to death, we are able to travel the millions of light-years to get to that distant black hole anyway. It's interesting that theoretically things appear to approach but never touch a black hole but in reality the average one is so incredibly compact and dense that it's smaller than a golf ball. It's amazing that we even locate them in space and know of their existence with modern technology.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed reading your blog Stevie. It was a really interesting read as I just wrote a blog about black holes myself. For some reason, Black Holes are fascinating to me and I feel as though they need to be taught to more people. I also find it very interesting that one would be in a continuous whirlpool if they survived the entry into a black hole. Thanks for the blog.
ReplyDeleteVery informative post. I previously took a course with an instructor who exclusively studies black holes, and he too brought up the fact that you would be ripped into pieces by the gravity. I wanted to clarify why you would be ripped into pieces by the black hole. The reason is that the part of your body that was nearest to the black hole would accelerate much more quickly than the part that is farthest away because the change in gravitational force even in the span of six feet is incredible. Initially before being broken to pieces, your body would actually be stretched. It would be a very painful, but quick death.
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