Black Holes: Infinity And Beyond

Black Holes: Infinity and Beyond
If theories of their existence are true, black holes are the most powerful force in the known
physical universe. Many people are familiar with the term black hole, but few people actually know
anything about them. A black hole forms as a result of a massive star running out of fuel to burn
(Chaisson, 193). Once the star is no longer exerting outward force by burning off gases, it begins to
collapse under it’s own intense, inward gravity (Chaisson, 193). It is like slowly letting the air out of a
balloon. Once the star is compacted to a certain size, while it’s mass, or weight, remains the same, it’s
gravity becomes so powerful that nothing can escape it (Hawking, 87). This critical size to weight ratio
is known as the Schwarzchild Radius (Hawking, 87). Once a black hole is created in this way, an
invisible area, or line around it exists. If any object crosses this line, it can no longer escape the
gravitational force of the black hole (Hawking, 87). This line is called the event horizon (Hawking, 87).
If black holes are proven to exist, beyond theoretical physics, then they would probably be a very
common anomaly in this universe. In 1915, Albert Einstein put forth the first real proposition of such
an anomaly in his “Theory of Relativity” (Bunn, Black Holes FAQ). In the 1930s, three physicists,
doctors Volkoff, Snyder and Oppenheimer, were able to prove the validity of black holes
mathematically. Since then, black holes have bec...

Black Holes: Infinity And Beyond

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