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Monday, February 21, 2011

The Problem with Black Holes

We've all heard of Black Holes and how their massive weight and gravitational influence shape our galaxies. In fact, it is now estimated that most galaxies have a supermassive black hole residing at their centers which may have played a large part in facilitating growth at the early stages of the galaxy's formation.

A Black Hole's gravitational pull is strong enough to prevent light from escaping it. Light travels at approximately 299,792,458 meters a second (~186,000 miles per second). One can only imagine what type of extreme gravitational force would be necessary to keep even light from escaping the depths of a Black Hole.

An artist's conception of a Black Hole. Source: zmescience.com

However, more intriguing than the Black Hole's massive gravitational pull and weight is its size. What many don't seem to know about a Black Hole is that it is infinitely small. In fact, a Black Hole is smaller than a grain of sand. Doesn't make sense, does it? How something so small can weigh so heavy? That's the exact problem with Black Holes that physicists have been working on for years now.

There are two types of theories at work at the inside of a Black Hole, which makes it more unique than almost any other interstellar object.

Atomic properties at the quantum level. Source: Wikimedia Commons

The first is that since the Black Hole is nearly infinitely small, physicists must utilize the laws of quantum mechanics in order to understand the properties at the tiny level. For those of you who don't know, quantum mechanics is the "weird" world of physics where particles don't behave as we would expect them to in the macro world. For instance, random occurrences occur that have probabilities attached to them; however, their nature still appears somewhat random to scientists. This causes a problem because as we move up the ladder and look at what is going on at the macro level, patterns appear (i.e., electrons and protons, their respective behaviors).

A conceptual image of the laws of general relativity (ball rolling and curving space-time). Source: topnews.net.nz

The second theory important to the study of Black Holes is general relativity. A theory by Albert Einstein that revolutionized our understanding of the universe; it plays an important part in understanding Black Holes due to their gargantuan mass. General relativity is necessary in order to understand how massive objects such as stars, planets, and other objects in the universe move due to curvature in space-time. And due to the fact that Black Holes have such high masses, the laws of general relativity are important in understanding how they should behave. This brings us to the main problem with Black Holes.

Quantum mechanics and general relativity do not seem to like each other mathematically. They are in a sense, almost two different instruments that are playing their own tunes to the universe. They both have this harmonious way of summarizing how things act in their respective worlds (microscopic level for quantum mechanics, macroscopic level for general relativity. However, both theories seem to hate each other mathematically when brought together. Things don't quite add up--the math falls apart. And the problem with Black Holes is that they are infinitely small and infinitely massive--meaning that we would need to use both theories in order to understand Black Hole entirely.

Many physicists are working on a grand unification theory to help solve this problem in Physics. Theories such as String Theory and "The God Equation" are constantly being worked upon by physicists around the world in order to reach a grand unification theory that would bring together the laws of quantum mechanics and general relativity in one. Until then, we can only imagine how harmonious and powerful such a unified theory can be.

22 comments:

  1. we're really lucky one hasn't cross the earth's path.

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  2. @Every Day: It's very unlikely that a Black Hole will cross any planet's path as it remains mostly static. It moves along with the Galaxy's trajectory.

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  3. the subject of physics is one i will never fully understand. mainly cause i don't study it. however the concepts and theories are astounding.

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  4. Physics are something beyond what I typically understand. Very interesting read, but I was lost since the first line! haha

    Following and supporting

    Garage Zoku

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  5. i read the universe in a nutshell about 10 years ago and to this day I still ponder black holes. nice post, thanks.

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  6. From what I understand, the Black Hole is so small because it's constantly falling in upon itself.

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  7. Just have to wait until the next Einstein/Newton/etc rolls around to solve the problem with quantum and general relativity....
    cool post, brings me back to astronomy class :D

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  8. i love and fear black holes at the same time, if you know what i mean :P

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  9. the God equation? they need to take it easy with their egos. Very interesting read about the black holes btw.

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  10. There seems to be a black hole in my bank account.

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  11. i once had to hand in a paper about black holes but that was like 6 years ago. Thanks for refreshing my memory.

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  12. Quantum theory requires some 'belief' in it.

    also the higgs boson "god particle"

    sounds like science and religion are closer than you think.

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  13. We need another famous scientist with true breakthroughs like Einstein.

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  14. excellent post... would getting sucked into a black hole make you feel like Mr. Fantastic?

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  15. Black holes are one of those things that everyone wants to see!

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  16. Hopefully the LHC can shed some light on black holes soon.

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  17. I must admit this is the most interesting post I've read in a long time.

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  18. I found this really interesting. Great post, well put, and it wasn't hard to follow.

    Keep it up!

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  19. Awesome post, you made quantum physics easy to understand, kudos!

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