There seem to be so many thoughts and theories floating around out there about black holes. For all of the information one can find, most of it is seems like pure conjecture. I believe that black holes exist, because of what we have detected out there in the Universe. It is clear from our probing of the night skies that there are many things out there that we do not fully understand. Black holes were the most enigmatic until dark matter came along. Still, we have a long way to go in our understanding of black holes.
Traditionally a black hole is thought to form when a massive star with sufficient mass uses up its fuel and collapses inward under the influence of its own gravity. Take a soda can and fill it with about a half an inch of water. Set it on the stove with the burner on hi. Wait for the water to boil. You will start to see steam come out of the opening of the soda can. Use something to pick up the can, be careful because it is very hot. Quickly tip the can upside down into a bowl of cold water. The result is the can will implode. This happens because the steam has forced out the air. When you cool it rapidly the water condenses. This leaves no air in the can. Without the force of the air pushing outward we are only left with the outward force of our atmosphere pushing in. In a sense this is like the black hole. Atoms are mostly free space and when a black hole forms the free space in those atoms and between atoms is decreased. The major difference is that instead of the atmosphere crushing the can, the massive star is imploding under its own weight. Since it has used up its fuel it lacks the ability to oppose its own gravity. Super massive black holes are thought to form when smaller black holes come together. I do not believe this is the only, or most likely way they can form. I will address their formation in another article. There is also a theory out there that micro black should be possible. Unlike the other two forms, no known natural state exists in the universe that would allow micro black holes to form. The current thought is that high energy collisions in a particle accelerator could lead to their formation. It is also thought that the conditions were right during the formation of the Universe. This taps into the Big Bang Theory.
So, I believe that black holes exist, as well as super massive black holes. I also believe that everything we think we know about them could be wrong. After all, we cannot go out to where we think one is and observe what is actually happening directly. What I do not believe in are Micro Black holes. The fact that they do not exist naturally, that we know of, is one reason. There are many things that exist today, thanks to humans, that would not exist naturally. So, that is not to say that we could not create the conditions necessary for a micro black hole to exist. The biggest reason I think that micro black holes cannot exist, is because there existence seems to contradict the existence of black and super massive black holes. I said before that a black hole forms when a massive star collapses in on itself. Since not every object in the universe can lead to the creation of a black hole; this tells us that a certain amount of matter is needed. Only certain objects of sufficient mass, under the right conditions can lead to their formation. Could we take the earth and force its matter into a singularity? Some would argue yes, and that technically anything could form a black hole. Is this right?
A singularity is supposed to be a point of infinite density, how is this possible? Density is defined as mass per unit volume. The more mass you squeeze into a small area, the higher the density of that object. A singularity supposedly warps space time so that the region of space containing the singularity becomes infinite. Thus the strong gravity, objects have no where to go but in, and yet we suspect that things do escape black holes. The foundation for this notion is the relativity view of gravity. Given the nature of a black hole, even if we could study one up close we would find out nothing. Simply because we can get close enough to probe the black hole with our instrumentation. Since very little, if anything, comes out; we can't stand by and observe anything either. The best we could do is get close enough to observe other objects near by and how they react to the black holes influence. The problem I have with a black hole having infinite density is that it forms with a given amount of mass. When a massive star collapses it only has its given amount of matter to form the singularity. The matter contained within the star is crushed down to a smaller volume. Since density is defined as mass per unit volume than we only need to know the total weight of all the matter in that star. I know, weight relative to what? The only reason things weigh what they do on earth is due to the earth's gravity. Objects on earth would weigh less on the Moon and more on Jupiter. We can figure out the gravity of that star so this would be its mass.
The point is that we have a given amount of matter to start with. The only thing that changes is the free space contained between the matter. When the object collapses to form a singularity than it should only have the same amount of matter within and thus gravity should not change. The question becomes then, "How does the gravity increase, given the same amount of matter"? The density of the object has changed. There is now the same amount of matter occupying a very tiny amount of space vs a large amount of space. And it is this that is supposed to lead to an increase in gravity? With a micro black hole, if i took a baseball and crushed it down to a singularity; its gravitational pull would have to be weak. Where would the event horizon be? Would its gravitational pull increase over time with the addition of more matter? At what point would it go from being micro to macro? What it comes down to is this. Micro black holes do not naturally occur. We can create one in the sense that if we had the technology, it may be possible to fit the needed amount of matter into a small enough amount of space. We will never know unless we either find one or make one. Until that time I am of the school of thought that they don't exist, and won't exist.
As far as black holes go, I have my own view of gravity. I do not believe in the warping of a space time fabric, because I do not believe a space time fabric exists. Empty space is just that, empty. There is nothing tangible to warp. What we have are objects in space that represent pockets of matter. The amount of matter contained within an object determines its gravity. So when a massive star implodes to form a traditional black hole, the only thing that has changes is the region of space the matter occupies. All of it now lies in a very small and compact point. The gravitational field has not changed. It behaves as if the object were its original size. The event horizon in my mind represents the original circumference of the object. The surface of the earth would be the event horizon if it collapsed inward to a smaller space. When an object enters this region it gets pulled inward, because it is essentially passing through the region of space that the massive star once occupied. There is nothing there to collide with, but the gravity is still there and the object gets pulled in. Gravity remains constant and is dictated by the matter contained within the object.
I guess the only problem I have is not knowing? I want to know what a black hole is, not what we think we know. The only way we can do that is to keep observing.
There seem to be so many thoughts and theories floating around out there about black holes. For all of the information one can find, most of it is seems like pure conjecture. I believe that black holes exist, because of what we have detected out there in the Universe. It is clear from our probing of the night skies that there are many things out there that we do not fully understand. Black holes were the most enigmatic until dark matter came along. Still, we have a long way to go in our understanding of black holes.
Traditionally a black hole is thought to form when a massive star with sufficient mass uses up its fuel and collapses inward under the influence of its own gravity. Take a soda can and fill it with about a half an inch of water. Set it on the stove with the burner on hi. Wait for the water to boil. You will start to see steam come out of the opening of the soda can. Use something to pick up the can, be careful because it is very hot. Quickly tip the can upside down into a bowl of cold water. The result is the can will implode. This happens because the steam has forced out the air. When you cool it rapidly the water condenses. This leaves no air in the can. Without the force of the air pushing outward we are only left with the outward force of our atmosphere pushing in. In a sense this is like the black hole. Atoms are mostly free space and when a black hole forms the free space in those atoms and between atoms is decreased. The major difference is that instead of the atmosphere crushing the can, the massive star is imploding under its own weight. Since it has used up its fuel it lacks the ability to oppose its own gravity. Super massive black holes are thought to form when smaller black holes come together. There is also a theory out there that micro black should be possible. Unlike the other two forms, no known natural state exists in the universe that would allow micro black holes to form. The current thought is that high energy collisions in a particle accelerator could lead to their formation. It is also thought that the conditions were right during the formation of the Universe. This taps into the Big Bang Theory.
So, I believe that they exist, as well as super massive ones. I also believe that everything we think we know about them could be wrong. After all, we cannot go out to where we think one is and observe what is actually happening directly. What I do not believe in are Micro Black holes. The fact that they do not exist naturally, that we know of, is one reason. There are many things that exist today, thanks to humans, that would not exist naturally. So, that is not to say that we could not create the conditions necessary for a micro black hole to exist. The biggest reason I think that micro black holes cannot exist, is because there existence seems to contradict the existence of black and super massive black holes. I said before that a black hole forms when a massive star collapses in on itself. Since not every object in the universe can lead to the creation of a black hole; this tells us that a certain amount of matter is needed. Only certain objects of sufficient mass, under the right conditions can lead to their formation. Could we take the earth and force its matter into a singularity? Some would argue yes, and that technically anything could form a black hole. Is this right?
A singularity is supposed to be a point of infinite density, how is this possible? Density is defined as mass per unit volume. The more mass you squeeze into a small area, the higher the density of that object. A singularity supposedly warps space time so that the region of space containing the singularity becomes infinite. Thus the strong gravity, objects have no where to go but in, and yet we suspect that things do escape black holes. The foundation for this notion is the relativity view of gravity. Given the nature of a black hole, even if we could study one up close we would find out nothing. Simply because we can get close enough to probe the black hole with our instrumentation. Since very little, if anything, comes out; we can't stand by and observe anything either. The best we could do is get close enough to observe other objects near by and how they react to the black holes influence. The problem I have with a black hole having infinite density is that it forms with a given amount of mass. When a massive star collapses it only has its given amount of matter to form the singularity. The matter contained within the star is crushed down to a smaller volume. Since density is defined as mass per unit volume than we only need to know the total weight of all the matter in that star. I know, weight relative to what? The only reason things weigh what they do on earth is due to the earth's gravity. Objects on earth would weigh less on the Moon and more on Jupiter. We can figure out the gravity of that star so this would be its mass.
The point is that we have a given amount of matter to start with. The only thing that changes is the free space contained between the matter. When the object collapses to form a singularity than it should only have the same amount of matter within and thus gravity should not change. The question becomes then, "How does the gravity increase, given the same amount of matter"? The density of the object has changed. There is now the same amount of matter occupying a very tiny amount of space vs a large amount of space. And it is this that is supposed to lead to an increase in gravity? With a micro black hole, if I took a baseball and crushed it down to a singularity; its gravitational pull would have to be weak. Where would the event horizon be? Would its gravitational pull increase over time with the addition of more matter? At what point would it go from being micro to macro? What it comes down to is this. Micro black holes do not naturally occur. We can create one in the sense that if we had the technology, it may be possible to fit the needed amount of matter into a small enough amount of space. We will never know unless we either find one or make one. Until that time I am of the school of thought that they don't exist, and won't exist.
I have my own view of gravity. I do not believe in the warping of a space time fabric, because I do not believe a space time fabric exists. Empty space is just that, empty. There is nothing tangible to warp. What we have are objects in space that represent pockets of matter. The amount of matter contained within an object determines its gravity. So when a massive star implodes to form a traditional black hole, the only thing that has changes is the region of space the matter occupies. All of it now lies in a very small and compact point. The gravitational field has not changed. It behaves as if the object were its original size. The event horizon in my mind represents the original circumference of the object. The surface of the earth would be the event horizon if it collapsed inward to a smaller space. When an object enters this region it gets pulled inward, because it is essentially passing through the region of space that the massive star once occupied. There is nothing there to collide with, but the gravity is still there and the object gets pulled in. Gravity remains constant and is dictated by the matter contained within the object.
I guess the only problem I have is not knowing? I want to know what a black hole is, not what we think we know. The only way we can do that is to keep observing.
