Into The Depths Of A Black Hole Essay, Research Paper

Into the Depths of A Black Hole

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,

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

black holes. As you will read about black holes, you can finally appreciate

the phenomenon, we all know as, black holes.

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. Black holes are one of the last option

that a star may take. If the core of the star is so massive (approximately 68

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 neighboring 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.

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 center 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 a star orbiting

empty space. Several pictures were sent back to Earth from the telescopes

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 center of the black hole, that there would be

enough gravitational force to possibly 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.

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