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16 Mind-Boggling Facts About Black Holes

Black Hole

 

The universe is a place that is extremely mysterious. Every time we talk about the strange things present in our universe; our minds suddenly thought of a black hole. Yes, it is a very mysterious thing present in our universe.

We all know that the gravity of the black hole is very strong which makes it dangerous also. Here, are some mind-boggling facts about black holes:

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#1 Black Holes Makes The Time and Space to Switch Their Role

Inside the black hole, time and space switch their roles as we found in relativity. Outside the black hole, we can move in 3-D space and time always moves forward; but inside it, we can only move forward in one direction, i.e., the center of the black hole, and travel to any time, i.e., present, past, future. (Wanna go?)

 

#2 The Black Holes are not Exactly Black

Black holes are actually not black. They do not reflect light, hence are not visible to us. So, to us, they seem to be black in color.

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#3 There are Countless Black Holes in Our Universe

Black holes can be easily located at the center of every galaxy, and there are millions to billions of galaxies in the universe; therefore, there are millions to billions of black holes in the universe.

Another point is found that our Milky Way galaxy has ‘100 million stellar-mass black holes and at the center a supermassive Sagittarius A*’. Again in-universe there are billions of galaxies with millions of black holes each. Now, it’s like counting stars in the sky.

 

#4 Another universe is present inside the black hole. (Surprised!)

According to scientists, the composition of a black hole is the same as the formation of the universe. Hence, there might be another universe inside a black hole.

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#5 Credit of The Discovery of The Black Hole does not go to Einstein

Albert, Einstein’s theory of relativity predicted the existence of a black hole but he didn’t discover them. In fact, it was ‘Karl Schwarzschild’ who used Einstein’s revolutionary equations and prove that black hole really exists. His speculations were done in the same year, i.e. the year Einstein released his theory of relativity in 1915.

After this, a British polymath ‘John Michel’ predicted that there are some black stars that exist in-universe that are so much compressed and massive, and possess a very strong gravitational pull that even light could not escape from it. They get their universal name in 1967.

 

#6 Time Slows Down Near The Black Hole

To understand this, think about Einstein’s theory of relativity; the more the speed of an object, the time gets slower for it. At the event horizon, of the black hole, the object moves with very much high speed due to a strong gravitational pull that slows down the time.


#7 Even The Evaporation Takes Place in The Case of The Black Hole

The famous scientist ‘Stephen Hawking’ was the one who discovers this shocking event. The phenomenon is called ‘Hawking radiations’.

According to him, the black hole releases the Hawking radiations which convert the black hole’s mass into space and over time it will eventually evaporate, i.e., essentially like killing the black hole. (Unbelievable)

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#8 It Seems Like an Object Freezes Near The Black Hole

At the event horizon, time slows down to such extreme that time seems to be stopped. Therefore, to the observer, the object falling into a black hole seems to be frozen.


#9 The Black Hole’s Energy Can be Stolen (Gasping!)

Outside the event horizon, there is a region called the ‘Ergo sphere’. Here, space-time rotates to such an extent that if we send an object into it; it will split into 2 parts. One part of that object will fall into the black hole while the other part escapes. This causes a black hole to slow down. The escaped part of the object will have more energy than the actual object has.


#10 The Black Hole’s Size is Very Small

Black holes are way much smaller than our imagination. According, to scientists a typical black hole has a radius of only ’30 km’. For our sun to become a black hole it has to shrink to obtain the radius of ‘3 km’; the current radius of the sun is 700,000 km.


#11 Black Holes have Abundant Energy

This happens due to the disk of material orbiting around the black hole. The material of the inner edge of the disk will orbit way faster than the outer edge due to the closeness of the inner edge to the event horizon.

As the speed of the material orbiting around it – is very fast, it heats up to billions of degrees. Such high temperature is able to transform the mass of material into energy, known as ‘black body radiation’.

DID YOU KNOW? – Black holes produce even more energy than the sun.


#12 What, If We Might be Living in a Black Hole?

It is said that our universe might be made from a black hole. Another speculation is that the mass of the black hole depends upon its size. The bigger the black hole more will be the mass. You know that the mass of our universe is exactly the same amount we needed if we want to make a black hole of the size of our universe. So, we all may be living inside a big black hole. (Exciting and terrifying!)

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#13 Galaxies Formation Credit Goes to The Black Holes

There is a black hole present in the center of every galaxy. Galaxies are formed when they grab the nearby stars with their strong gravitational force.


#14 Black Holes Discovery – All Thanks to X-ray Astronomy

Cygnus X-1 is the first black hole discovered in 1960. It is 10 times massive than our sun. X-ray astronomy played a major role in its discovery.


#15 Anything Can Become A Black Hole (Amazing!)

According, to Schwarzschild, if anything will be compressed to ‘Schwarzschild radius’ then it will become a black hole.

For example, Earth’s Schwarzschild radius is ‘9mm’, therefore, if Earth’s diameter will shrink to less than 2 cm than it will become a black hole.

We can even convert the things of our regular uses in a black hole the only condition applied is that we have to compress that object to the Schwarzschild radius. (Hey, guys never try it; it’s really dangerous!)


#16 Black Holes Do Not Emit X-Rays Themselves

In 1974, ‘Stephen Hawking’ predicted that black holes emit some radiations known as ‘Hawking radiations’. After his publication; many other scientists have verified the results with various speculations.

Because of the force singularity that causes an object to fall into a black hole, the X-rays are emitted, and these rays are emitted by the object (not the black hole) until it reaches the event horizon.


All in all, it can be said that black holes are extremely mysterious. They behave strangely but also there’s a spike of interest in studying them due to their strangeness.

 

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