Black Holes 2 Essay, Research Paper
Everyday we
look out upon the night sky, wondering and
dreaming of what lies beyond our planet. The
universe that we live in is so diverse and unique,
and it interests us to learn about all the variance
that lies beyond our grasp. Within this marvel of
wonders our universe holds a mystery that is very
difficult to understand because of the
complications that arise when trying to examine
and explore the principles of space. That mystery
happens to be that of the ever clandestine, black
hole. This essay will hopefully give you the
knowledge and understanding of the concepts,
properties, and processes involved with the space
phenomenon of the black hole. It will describe
how a black hole is generally formed, how it
functions, and the effects it has on the universe. In
order to understand what exactly a black hole is,
we must first take a look at the basis for the cause
of a black hole. All black holes are formed from
the gravitational collapse of a star, usually having a
great, massive, core. A star is created when huge,
gigantic, gas clouds bind together due to attractive
forces and form a hot core, combined from all the
energy of the two gas clouds. This energy
produced is so great when it first collides, that a
nuclear reaction occurs and the gases within the
star start to burn continuously. The Hydrogen gas
is usually the first type of gas consumed in a star
and then other gas elements such as Carbon,
Oxygen, and Helium are consumed. This chain
reaction fuels the star for millions or billions of
years depending upon the amount of gases there
are. The star manages to avoid collapsing at this
point because of the equilibrium achieved by itself.
The gravitational pull from the core of the star is
equal to the gravitational pull of the gases forming
a type of orbit, however when this equality is
broken the star can go into several different
stages. Usually if the star is small in mass, most of
the gases will be consumed while some of it
escapes. This occurs because there is not a
tremendous gravitational pull upon those gases and
therefore the star weakens and becomes smaller.
It is then referred to as a White Dwarf. If the star
was to have a larger mass however, then it may
possibly Supernova, meaning that the nuclear
fusion within the star simply goes out of control
causing the star to explode. After exploding a
fraction of the star is usually left (if it has not turned
into pure gas) and that fraction of the star is
known as a neutron star. A black hole is one of
the last option that a star may take. If the core of
the star is so massive (approximately 6-8 solar
masses; one solar mass being equal to the sun’s
mass) then it is most likely that when the star’s
gases are almost consumed those gases will
collapse inward, forced into the core by the
gravitational force laid upon them. After a black
hole is created, the gravitational force continues to
pull in space debris and other type of matters to
help add to the mass of the core, making the hole
stronger and more powerful. Most black holes
tend to be in a consistent spinning motion. This
motion absorbs various matter and spins it within
the ring (known as the Event Horizon) that is
formed around the black hole. The matter keeps
within the Event Horizon until it has spun into the
centre where it is concentrated within the core
adding to the mass. Such spinning black holes are
known as Kerr Black Holes. Most black holes
orbit around stars due to the fact that they once
were a star, and this may cause some problems
for the neighbouring stars. If a black hole gets
powerful enough it may actually pull a star into it
and disrupt the orbit of many other stars. The
black hole could then grow even stronger (from
the star’s mass) as to possibly absorb another.
When a black hole absorbs a star, the star is first
pulled into the Ergosphere, which sweeps all the
matter into the Event Horizon, named for it’s flat
horizontal appearance and because this happens
to be the place where mostly all the action within
the black hole occurs. When the star is passed on
into the Event Horizon the light that the star
endures is bent within the current and therefore
cannot be seen in space. At this exact point in
time, high amounts of radiation are given off, that
with the proper equipment can be detected and
seen as an image of a black hole. Through this
technique astronomers now believe that they have
found a black hole known as Cygnus X1. This
supposed black hole has a huge star orbiting
around it, therefore we assume there must be a
black hole that it is in orbit with. The first scientists
to really take an in depth look at black holes and
the collapsing of stars, were a professor, Robert
Oppenheimer and his student Hartland Snyder, in
the early nineteen hundreds. They concluded on
the basis of Einstein’s theory of relativity that if the
speed of light was the utmost speed over any
massive object, then nothing could escape a black
hole once in it’s clutches. **(1) The name "black
hole" was named such, because of the fact that
light could not escape from the gravitational pull
from the core, thus making the black hole
impossible for humans to see without using
technological advancements for measuring such
things like radiation. The second part of the word
was named "hole" due to the fact that the actual
hole, is where everything is absorbed and where
the centre core presides. This core is the main part
of the black hole where the mass is concentrated
and appears purely black on all readings even
through the use of radiation detection devices. Just
recently a major discovery was found with the
help of a device known as The Hubble Telescope.
This telescope has just recently found what many
astronomers believe to be a black hole, after being
focused on an star orbiting empty space. Several
picture were sent back to Earth from the telescope
showing many computer enhanced pictures of
various radiation fluctuations and other diverse
types of readings that could be read from the area
in which the black hole is suspected to be in.
Several diagrams were made showing how
astronomers believe that if somehow you were to
survive through the centre of the black hole that
there would be enough gravitational force to
possible warp you to another end in the universe
or possibly to another universe. The creative ideas
that can be hypothesized from this discovery are
endless. Although our universe is filled with much
unexplained, glorious, phenomenons, it is our duty
to continue exploring them and to continue
learning, but in the process we must not take any
of it for granted. As you have read, black holes
are a major topic within our universe and they
contain so much curiosity that they could possibly
hold unlimited uses. Black holes are a sensation
that astronomers are still very puzzled with. It
seems that as we get closer to solving their
existence and functions, we just end up with more
and more questions. Although these questions just
lead us into more and more unanswered problems
we seek and find refuge into them, dreaming that
maybe one day, one far off distant day, we will
understand all the conceptions and we will be able
to use the universe to our advantage and go where
only our dreams could take us. Dave May 343
1992/12/04 References For Into The Depths of a
Black Hole **(1): Parker, Barry. Colliding
Galaxies. PG#96