Sharpen Your Mind: Black Holes

Posted by
Jerry Lopper
Dec 17, 2006

A black hole is a phenomenon resulting from the death of a massive star. The star collapses into itself, becoming smaller and smaller until it is reduced to a single point of infinite density. Its density is so great that nothing can escape its gravitational pull, not even light. Thus the term black hole.

Because no light can escape black holes, we can't see them. Physicists theorize they exist because of effects they see on other bodies, effects that cannot be explained without the black hole theory.

Black holes seem to defy the law of quantum mechanics that energy cannot be created nor destroyed. Questioning this, Albert Einstein once stated, "God does not play dice with the universe." Stephen Hawking countered saying, "God not only plays dice. He sometimes throws them where they cannot be seen (into black holes)."

Source: The Intellectual Devotional, David S. Kidder & Noah D. Oppenheim

Comments

Sep 9, 2008 7:33 AM

Guest :

The fact that I can't see Mount Everest from Bogota, Colombia does not mean it doesn't exist. Chaos is law of physics = endless possible possiblities and permutations. What creates gravity ('gravitons' ?) is still unknown to
science but that doesn't mean that gravity is not another law of physics. "The longest distance in the universe is from the head to the heart."

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