Homework #4
Natasha Oslinger
Astronomy
7-14-16
The short story “The Hole Man” by Larry Niven, which you read, contains a microscopic black hole. If a microscopic black hole were between you and the chalkboard (~3 meters away), could you tell? Are there instruments that exist that would allow you to detect it? To help answer this question, let’s determine its mass. If a black hole were the mass of the Earth, what would its Schwartzchild radius be? Would it be visible? Use that as a jumping off point to approximate the mass/size of the black hole in question, and use the result of your approximation to answer the question.
If a microscopic black hole were to appear near me, I would most certainly be able to tell. Because of minute size of this black hole, Hawking radiation would cause extremely rapid mass radiation and the already microscopic black hole would transform into energy that would lead to a massive explosion. If this explosion was approximately three meters from me, in a sense, I would be able to tell. Considering how the entire decay and explosion process would only less than a second, I would be dead before I would really be able to tell, but I would be affected by a micro black hole so close to me. There are groups currently working to detect black hole, but, unfortunately, they cannot be detected with current technology. The LHC, or, the Large Hadron Collider, believe they can prove the existence of parallel universes through the detection of micro black holes, but, they have not been able to detect such because of there is not enough energy in only four dimensions. If a black hole were to have the mass of Earth, it would only have a centimeter long diameter. To figure out the Schwarzschild radius of such a black hole, I would need to plug the mass of the Earth into the formula Rs = 2 G M / c^2. So, considering the mass of the Earth is 5.927 x 10^24, the Schwarzschild radius of a black hole this size would be .008868 m. Regarding the properties of black holes, they are technically not visible, so no, in a scientific sense, it would not be visible. Also, considering that I would be killed instantaneously, I would most certainly not be able to observe it.
Sources
"Here's What Would Happen to You If You Encountered a Small Black Hole." CNET. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 July 2016.
http://www.cnet.com/news/heres-what-would-happen-to-you-if-you-encountered-a-small-black-hole/
"Micro Black Hole." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web. 13 July 2016.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Micro_black_hole
"Detection of Mini Black Holes at the LHC Could Indicate Parallel Universes in Extra Dimensions." Detection of Mini Black Holes at the LHC Could Indicate Parallel Universes in Extra Dimensions. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 July 2016.
http://phys.org/news/2015-03-mini-black-holes-lhc-parallel.html
Natasha Oslinger
Astronomy
7-14-16
The short story “The Hole Man” by Larry Niven, which you read, contains a microscopic black hole. If a microscopic black hole were between you and the chalkboard (~3 meters away), could you tell? Are there instruments that exist that would allow you to detect it? To help answer this question, let’s determine its mass. If a black hole were the mass of the Earth, what would its Schwartzchild radius be? Would it be visible? Use that as a jumping off point to approximate the mass/size of the black hole in question, and use the result of your approximation to answer the question.
If a microscopic black hole were to appear near me, I would most certainly be able to tell. Because of minute size of this black hole, Hawking radiation would cause extremely rapid mass radiation and the already microscopic black hole would transform into energy that would lead to a massive explosion. If this explosion was approximately three meters from me, in a sense, I would be able to tell. Considering how the entire decay and explosion process would only less than a second, I would be dead before I would really be able to tell, but I would be affected by a micro black hole so close to me. There are groups currently working to detect black hole, but, unfortunately, they cannot be detected with current technology. The LHC, or, the Large Hadron Collider, believe they can prove the existence of parallel universes through the detection of micro black holes, but, they have not been able to detect such because of there is not enough energy in only four dimensions. If a black hole were to have the mass of Earth, it would only have a centimeter long diameter. To figure out the Schwarzschild radius of such a black hole, I would need to plug the mass of the Earth into the formula Rs = 2 G M / c^2. So, considering the mass of the Earth is 5.927 x 10^24, the Schwarzschild radius of a black hole this size would be .008868 m. Regarding the properties of black holes, they are technically not visible, so no, in a scientific sense, it would not be visible. Also, considering that I would be killed instantaneously, I would most certainly not be able to observe it.
Sources
"Here's What Would Happen to You If You Encountered a Small Black Hole." CNET. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 July 2016.
http://www.cnet.com/news/heres-what-would-happen-to-you-if-you-encountered-a-small-black-hole/
"Micro Black Hole." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web. 13 July 2016.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Micro_black_hole
"Detection of Mini Black Holes at the LHC Could Indicate Parallel Universes in Extra Dimensions." Detection of Mini Black Holes at the LHC Could Indicate Parallel Universes in Extra Dimensions. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 July 2016.
http://phys.org/news/2015-03-mini-black-holes-lhc-parallel.html