What happens if the Ground was a black hole?

If you see a fascinating popular science series “ space and time”, then you know that this “ship of the imagination” – a spaceship exploring the Universe through imagination. The host of the show, astrophysicist Neil Degrasse Tyson is at the helm of this ship and shows an inexperienced audience far into space. I really liked the idea of the ship of the imagination, so I hope Dr. Tyson won't mind if I borrow her for this article. So, let's imagine that we are on Board the ship of the imagination and look at our planet from afar. But suddenly, at some point, out of nowhere a black hole. What will happen then?

What do we know about black holes?

Black holes simultaneously excite and intrigue not only scholars. In the future, the interest in these mysterious objects will only grow, especially after the discovery of gravitational waves and the first pictures of a black hole. Recall that the existence of gravitational waves was predicted in the General theory of relativity of albert Einstein, however, to prove their existence was possible only in February 2016. Already in 2017 scientists collaboration LIGO and VIRGO, who made the discovery, presented .

Gravitational waves represent the curvature of the gravitational field, which occurs due to the collision of massive objects, such as two supermassive black holes. The curvature of the gravitational field propagates like waves, so we call this event as gravitational waves. Read more about this outstanding scientific discovery in a fascinating read .

Blue is gravitational waves, and in the center are rotating black holes

Almost a year ago, 12 April 2019, on the day of cosmonautics, the world saw the first ever photograph of a black hole, or rather its event horizon. In addition to the stunning fact – astronomers have discovered a black hole – this discovery proved the existence of a mysterious space monsters. The fact that all these years, black holes were considered hypothetically existing entities. Then, a few months later, NASA unveiled the first where you can see how the extreme gravitational forces created by these massive objects distort light around himself, creating the effect of a curved mirror. However, despite the fact that we were able to see black holes and even to simulate their behavior, we don't know what is beyond the event horizon. And hardly know it in the near future. But the good news is that science, armed with imagination, will help in finding the answer to this and other equally interesting questions.

Mass, angular momentum and electric charge of the black hole

So we know that black holes are the result of supernova explosion is a phenomenon in which a massive star abruptly changed its brightness, and then fade. Some of these stars immediately quanta collapse into the dark black holes, others pass all stages of stellar evolution – from a supernova, they can become neutron stars – the densest objects in the Universe that quanta collapse into the dark black holes. But how do scientists measure the mass and properties of these space monsters?

looks like a simulated visualization of a black hole by NASA

There are three properties of a black hole, which (in principle) be measured: its mass, angular momentum (spin) and the total electric charge. An observer, like us, from the ship of the imagination could be judged only on these three parameters, but all information about what is beyond the event horizon and the black hole composition is unknown. Scientists call this “a theorem about the absence of hair», as all the information about the source of matter (they call it hair) is hidden behind the event horizon. Based on all three parameters, mass, is perhaps the most important: it was – and the huge gravitational forces that it generates – damage to nearby objects.

Space Spaghetti

If the ship of the imagination is too close to the black hole, the ship and all its passengers will be stretched like spaghetti.

Imagine the front of the boat looking directly at a black hole. Because it is physically closer to the black hole, it will draw to it is stronger than the tail. Worse have only just due to the fact that we have hands, feet and head because hands are not in the center of the body, it will be attracted in a different direction than the head. This leads to the fact that body parts closer to the black hole would be drawn inside. The end result will be not only the elongation of the body, but also its thinning (compression) in the middle.

And where would you go on the ship of the imagination? Share your response in the comments to this article, as well as with participants

If a black hole suddenly appears next to our planet, we are in big trouble

So, our bodies or the ship of the imagination will start to resemble spaghettilong before you get to the center of a black hole. But, in that case happen to the planet if a black hole hypothetically appear from nowhere near the Ground?

the Bad news for the Earth

The Laws of gravity is known to be equally valid throughout the Universe. Therefore, in the case of our planet will have the same gravitational effects as if spagettification: side of the planet, which is closer to the black hole, will attract much stronger. In fact, the appearance near the planet, the black hole would mean the quick death of life on Earth and of the planet itself. Agree, this is not the best option. But, since we don't know what is beyond the event horizon of a black hole, the ship of the imagination once in a black hole, can move us to another part of the Universe or into another Universe, depending on hypotheses . And, you can see the movie “interstellar” 2014, because it presents a very interesting hypothesis that can meet the cosmic wanderer lost beyond the event horizon of a black hole.

This ship of the imagination to imagine the creators of the series