Black holes have long been a source for many sensations and mysteries. And interest in black holes will obviously increase when gravitational waves are discovered.
Many of the questions I received about the extent to which the "truth" of science fiction is related to black holes, and whether wormholes, as shown in Stargate, are real or not. However, the almost convincing thing to happen is that, generally horrible, black holes theoretically affect humans and the Earth itself.
Mass, charge, round
There are three characters of a black hole which (in principle) can be measured: mass, rotation (or angular momentum), and overall electrical charge. Actually, those three parameters can be known to outside observers because all the other information about anything that goes in and compiles a black hole is gone. This is what is known as "no-hair theorem". Simply put: no matter how much hair or complexity an object you throw into a black hole, it will be converted into (or trimmed) to stay just the mass, the charge, and the spin.
Of the three parameters, it can be said that the mass is the most significant. The definition of the black hole itself is that it keeps its mass concentrated into an unspeakably small volume - "singularity". And the mass of this black hole-as well as the enormous gravitational force generated by its mass-that "destroys" the objects around it.
One of the most known effects about the nearest black hole has an imaginative name "Spaghetification". In short, if you wander too close to a black hole, you will stretch, just spaghetti.
This effect is caused by the gravitational gradient throughout your body. Imagine you glide toward the black hole with your feet first. Because it is physically closer to a black hole, your feet will feel a stronger gravitational pull than your head.
Worse, your hand, as it is not the center of your body, will be pulled in a slightly different direction (vector) from your head. This causes the edges of the body to be pulled in. The end result is not only the lengthening of the body as a whole, but also the chipping (or compression) in the middle. That's why your body or any other object, like Earth, will start to resemble a spaghetti long before it hits the center of the black hole.
The precise point at which these forces become too strong to bear will depend greatly on the mass of a black hole. For an "ordinary" black hole generated by the collapse of a high-mass star, that point could be several hundred kilometers from the event horizon-the location point no information can escape the black hole.
But for a supermassive black hole, as it supposedly exists in the center of our galaxy, an object can sink quickly down the event horizon before it becomes spaghetti at a distance of tens of thousands of miles from its center. An outside observer from a distance the horizon of a black hole event will see us slow down progressively and fade with time.
Bad news for Earth
What would happen, hypothetically, if a black hole suddenly appeared near the Earth? The same gravitational effects that produce spagetification will start working here. The edge of the Earth closest to the black hole will feel a force much stronger than the far side. If so, the destruction of the whole planet is in sight. We will be torn apart.
At the same time, we may not even realize that a truly supermassive black hole swallows us beneath the event horizon when things will look like they were, at least for a short period of time. In this case, it could be a while before the catastrophe strikes. But do not worry too much, we'll get hurt first because of "crashing" a black hole-after all, we may live holographically after that critical moment.
Watch for radiation
Interestingly, black holes are not necessarily black. Quasar-objects in the hearts of distant galaxies gaining power from black holes-incredibly bright. Quasars can be much brighter than the entire galaxy that becomes its parent.
Such radiation occurs when the black hole is gobbling up new material. Obviously this: the material is still outside the event horizon, and that's why we can still see it. Under the event horizon does not exist, no light, which can escape. When all the sucked material accumulates, the material will glow. This glow is visible when the observers look at the quasar.
But it becomes an issue for anything that orbits (or is near) a black hole, because the black hole is very hot. Long before we experience spaghetification, this incredible force of radiation will fry us.
Life
an around a black hole
For those watching the movie Christopher Nolan Interstellar, the prospect of a planet orbiting a black hole is probably an interesting prospect. In order for life to thrive, it takes an energy source and temperature difference. And a black hole can be the source of that energy. There are obstacles, after all. The black hole must stop sucking any material-or it will radiate too much radiation to sustain life in all its neighboring worlds.
What kind of life in such a world (assuming not too close so as not to experience spaghetification of course) is another matter. The amount of energy the planet acquires is probably nothing compared to what the Earth receives from the Sun. And the whole environment of such a planet could be no less odd.
What is clear is that in making Interstellar, Kip Thorne is consulted to ensure the accuracy of the black hole displayed. These factors do not rule out life, but only make the planet a very tough prospect and it is very difficult to predict what life forms that inhabit it.
Kevin Pimbblet does not work, becomes a consultant, owns shares, or receives funds from any company or organization that will profit from this article, and has revealed that he has no affiliation outside the academic affiliation mentioned above.
