Black Holes
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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, and 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 the ever clandestine, black hole.
This essay will hopefully give you the knowledge and understanding of the concepts, properties, and processes involved with the space phenomenon of the black hole. It will describe how a black hole is generally formed, how it functions, and the effects it has on the universe.
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 (interstellar material) 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 and the size of the star.
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( Hydrogen fusion), 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 on 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.
A black hole is one of the last options that a star may take. If the core of the star is so massive (approximately 10 solar masses; one solar mass being equal to the suns mass) then it is most likely that when the stars 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 stars 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 its 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.