Why We All Should Be Afraid of Black Holes: A Short Overview of The Destructive Power of Black Holes

One could argue that the scariest things that exist aren’t ghosts, ghouls, or goblins. Rather, the scariest thing in the universe is a black hole. Black holes are entities or regions in space wherein gravity pulls so strong that nothing can escape it.

Interestingly, black holes are one of the hottest topics today. One of the scientists who received credit for his work regarding the topic was Roger Penrose. He did some mathematical work that shows that black holes are the consequences of Einstein’s theory of gravity. Our understanding of black holes has certainly come a long way. Here’s what we know about black holes and why they’re the scariest things in the universe.

What Are Black Holes and Why Are They Scary?

As we said, black holes are areas and regions in the universe wherein the pull of gravity is so strong that nothing can escape it. There are countless black holes in the universe, and there’s even one right at the center of our galaxy. The reason why black holes are so scary is that they would shred everything that comes in its path. All of the black holes in the universe, including the one that sits in the center of our galaxy, feature this insatiable appetite.

Many scientists have studied a ton of data about black holes, and they deserve credit for what we know about these things today. Interestingly, black holes are inactive most of the time, prompting us to calm a bit down. However, when they become active and eat stars, gas, and anything that comes close, it can be quite scary. These galaxies that harbor active black holes are called quasars. We’ve certainly learned a lot about black holes over the past century. However, there are still many questions and mysteries to be solved.

How Black Holes Form

Black holes appear and are expected to form after the final stages of the life cycle of a star. Once the star’s nuclear fuel has been fully exhausted, the core will collapse into the densest state of matter. Interestingly, it’ll be a hundred times denser than the nucleus of an atom. Additionally, neutrons, protons, and electrons will no longer be considered discrete particles.

The first black hole to be confirmed by scientists was Cygnus X-1. It’s the brightest X-ray source in the constellation of Cygnus, and scientists have studied it throughout the past few decades. Scientists certainly deserve a ton of credit as they were able to gather essential information and data about a black hole’s behavior through Cygnus X-1. Since the discovery, scientists have discovered around 50 black holes. Today, there are 10 million of these that are expected to be scattered throughout the Milky Way galaxy.

Once a black hole forms, you certainly do not want to be close to them. Even light cannot escape black holes, and anyone who falls into one would be “spaghettified.” Any human who falls into a black hole will experience how it feels to have something pull you apart intensely. All of the bones, muscles, and even molecules will be pulled apart in this process.

Black Holes In Every Galaxy

The Hubble Space Telescope has been an essential tool in the scientists’ study of behaviors and characteristics of black holes. Over the past three decades, the Hubble has been able to assist astronomers to the conclusion that all galaxies have black holes, and they’re located at their centers. Moreover, bigger galaxies also mean that they have bigger black holes.

There are a wide variety of black holes in our galaxy, and only nature has the idea of how to make black holes through a staggering range of masses. There are black holes that come from star corpses that weigh a few times the mass of our Sun. There are also ones that are monsters and scale up into a billion times more massive.

Recently, we have been able to witness the first-ever photograph of a black hole. The scientists behind the photo received credit for their outstanding work as they were able to take a snap of a black hole and its event horizon. It was a 7-billion-solar-mass monster that sat at the center of the M87 galaxy.

Supermassive Black Holes Are the Strangest Things in Our Universe

Our species have discovered several black holes over the past few decades. The biggest one that humanity discovered so far weighs in at a staggering 40 billion times more than the mass of our Sun. That figure is almost 20 times the size of our solar system!

These supermassive black holes are one of the strangest things in our universe. This massive black hole spins once every three months! The outer edge also moves at half the speed of light. One characteristic that’s common among all black holes is an event horizon. At the center is a singularity which is a point in space where density is infinite.

Modern science hasn’t been able to crack the code of the interiors of black holes yet. It’s because the laws of physics break down at this point, freezing time at the event horizon and simultaneously allowing gravity to become infinite at the singularity. It’s a complicated question to answer that even the most brilliant minds, whether leaders, lawyers, geniuses, and many more, haven’t been able to figure out.

Any Good News?

Despite their scary nature, there’s still no need to worry about any black hole potentially swallowing up life on Earth as we know it. According to the brilliant Stephen Hawking, black holes are already slowly evaporating. However, they’re evaporating at an unimaginable number of years. On the bright side, you probably won’t be alive when a black hole swallows up the Earth.