Have you watched the movie “Interstellar”? In that movie, there was an amazing scene where the protagonist goes to space and enters a black hole. But is this possible in real life? And what actually is a black hole?
Let’s find out!
Blackholes are one of the universe’s greatest mysteries. It can bend space, light, and time! Scientists, researchers, and astronomers have been researching it for decades!
WHAT EXACTLY IS A BLACK HOLE?
A black hole is a massive object in space with extremely high gravitational force from which nothing can escape. The black hole’s gravity is so powerful that even light cannot escape from it, which is why we can only see it by its name- “Black”.
Black Hole is not an empty place, rather it is a massive amount of matter squeezed into a small area. This results in a highly dense gravitational force.
HOW ARE BLACK HOLES FORMED :
“One Star’s End is a Black Hole’s Beginning”. Although there are a number of ways that a Black Hole can be formed, the most common one is the death of a giant star. And when we say “giant” or “massive” we mean a star that is several times bigger than our Sun.
We know that there are continuous nuclear fusion reactions happening in the stars, which produce huge amounts of light and heat. This nuclear energy pushes out and the star’s own gravitational energy pushes in, thus maintaining an equilibrium in the star’s life. But nuclear fusion requires some fuels which are not unlimited. The fuels are bound to end, thus causing nuclear fusion to stop eventually.
When the nuclear fusion energy stops pushing out, there remains only the gravitational force still going strong without any counterforce. Eventually this gravitation causes the star to collapse and hence forming a black hole.
This whole process isn’t super fast. It all takes millions or even billions of years to happen. It depends on the size of the star and its life cycle.
DISCOVERY OF BLACK HOLES :
The idea of such a strong gravitational object has been around for a long time. In Einstein’s theory of general relativity, it was stated that when a massive star dies it can create an extremely dense force which can warp space-time. Although he theoretically predicted the existence of a blackhole in 1915, Einstein wasn’t sure if a blackhole could actually exist in reality.
Based on Einstein’s theory, Karl Schwarzchild first gave the idea of black hole. Later a Princetone physicist John Wheeler first used the term “Black Hole” in 1968. The first known Black Hole, discovered independently by several researchers in 1971, was named “Cygnus X-1”.
The first ever picture of a blackhole was taken in 2019. This supermassive blackhole at the center of our milky way galaxy is named M87.
THE OUTER BOUNDARY RING OF BLACK HOLES :
If you have seen pictures of blackholes, you know there is a shiny orange-yellow ring around the blackhole. But what is this thing?
The ring-like thing is called the “Accretion disk”. An accretion disk is a combination of gas,dust, plasma and other space material, spirally orbiting around a massive celestial body- like a blackhole. Just like the planets in our galaxy rotate around the sun due to its gravitational pull, the matter in the Accretion disk does the same with blackholes.
As light cannot escape from it,we cannot really see a blackhole. These accretion disks are useful for astronomers to locate and identify a blackhole.
WHAT HAPPENS IF YOU FALL INTO A BLACKHOLE?
As we learned so far, light cannot escape black holes, and light is the fastest thing in the universe. There is a high possibility that if you enter a blackhole or even near a blackhole you might die instantly.
Researchers think that when you go near a blackhole you will feel different gravity in the body part most near to Blackhole and the part farther away. Actually this difference even occurs on earth,our feet feel more attracted to the earth than our head. But this is not a very strong force so we are unable to feel this.
But blackhole’s gravity is extremely high. So we will be able to see and feel the difference.Some experts argue that you will be stretched and look like toothpaste coming out of the tube. Then eventually you will be stretched to atoms and die. Because you will be stretched like a thin layer of spaghetti,this process is called spaghettification!
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Writer:
Ramisa Shamrin Chowdhury
Intern, Content Writing Department, YSSE.