1. Black Holes Essay
Black holes are possibly one of the most confusing astronomical occurrences that I’ve heard of.
I’m going to try to explain what they are, what goes on inside them, what we don’t know and what we
theorize to be true.
A star is constantly in balance between atomic explosions pushing outward and gravity pushing
inward. This makes the sun a large ball of fire, but it still keeps it from exploding or imploding. Black
holes are formed after a star’s atomic power runs out. In other words, it runs out of gas. This disrupts
the balance, and in a regular-sized star the gravity just makes the star compact, and turn into a white
dwarf, and eventually, a black dwarf. In a star of unusual size, however, the gravity is suddenly released
with nothing to fight against it. This causes it resort to a complete spasm – a supernova. This is a huge
explosion that resounds through space, leaving in its path, a black hole.
Black holes have incredible gravity. They are not, however, like a vacuum cleaner. They act like
any other body – a star of planet – of great gravity. However, when they are close to something, they
pull it towards it and suck it into its center, because they have such large gravity. Why do they have so
much gravity? As you near a black hole, and start to get pulled in, you become more and more at the
mercy of the black hole. When you travel past a certain point, called the line of singularity, you would
have to travel past the speed of light to escape. Eventually you get pulled right into the center of the
black hole. This is only a small point, with mass getting compressed to an extremely tight and hot ball.
So tight, some even say it is infinitly dense.
Actually, nobody knows what goes on at the center. It is true that some theorists suggest
infinite density, but for that to happen, there would need to be a volume of zero and infinite gravity, and
for a lot of people that is hard to comprehend. It is possible that there is simply extremely high gravity
and density in the center. I think this is more likely, because with infinite density and gravity the
gravitational pull would be so great that it would take in everything near it, and thus provide more fuel
until it eats the universe itself. It is hard to find out exactly what is at the center, because they suck in
light, but with special cameras that track different rays than light rays, we can learn more about what is
there.
Talcott, Richard. "What makes a black hole tick?." Astronomy 33.10 (2005): 80-81. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 25 Jan. 2010.
"Physics Help and Math Help - Physics Forums ." Physics Help and Math Help - Physics Forums . N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Jan. 2010. <http://
www.physicsforums.com
Also used Wikipedia and classmate’s presentations
