The Black Hole

The Black Hole

Everyday I wonder what is out there. The universe that we live in is so diverse and unique, and it interests us to learn about all the things that lie beyond our grasp. 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 black hole. Hopefully I can give you some understanding of the concepts, properties, and processes involved with the black hole. How does a black hole form? Function? What effects do black holes have on the universe?

To understand what a black hole is, you need to know 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, gas clouds merge together because of attractive forces and form a hot core, combined from all the energy of the two gas clouds. The energy produced is so powerful that when it collides, a nuclear reaction occurs and the gases within the star start to burn continuously. Hydrogen gas is usually the first type of gas consumed in a star and then other gases 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. The star doesn’t collapse 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, but when this equality is broken. . . the star can go into a lot of different stages.

Usually if the star is small in mass, most of the gases will be consumed while some escapes. This occurs because there is not a tremendous gravitational pull with those gases and the star weakens and becomes smaller. Then its referred to as a White Dwarf. If the star has a larger mass, then it could be Supernova, meaning that the nuclear fusion in the star simply goes crazy, causing the star to explode. After exploding just a fraction of the star is left (if it hasn’t turned into pure gas) and that fraction of the star is called a neutron star.

A black hole is one of the last things a star would do. If the core of the star is so massive (approximately 6-8 solar masses; one solar mass is equal to the sun's mass) then it is likely that when the star's gases are almost completely used up, those gases will collapse inward, forced into the core by the gravitational force.

After a black hole is created, the gravitational force continues to pull in space debris and other type of matters to add to the mass of the core, making the hole stronger and more powerful. Most black holes tend to be in a constant spinning motion. This motion absorbs various matter and spins it within the ring (The Event Horizon) that is formed around the black hole. The matter keeps within the Event Horizon until it has spun into the center, where it is concentrated within the core adding to the mass. These spinning black holes are called Kerr Black Holes.

Most black holes orbit around stars because they once were a star, and this may cause some problems for the close stars. If a black hole gets powerful enough, it could pull a star into it and disrupt the orbit of a lot of other stars. The black hole could grow even stronger (from the star's mass) and could absorb another.

When a black hole absorbs a star, the star is first pulled into the Ergo-sphere, which pulls all the matter into the Event Horizon. When the star is pulled into the Event Horizon the light that the star endures is bent and therefore can’t be seen in space. At this point, high amounts of radiation are given off, and with the right equipment can be detected, and seen as an image of a black hole.Using this technique, astronomers believe that they found a black hole called Cygnus X1. This possible black hole has a huge star orbiting around it, therefore there must be a black hole that it is in orbit with it.

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