Hawking: Black Holes Do Exist. Now the Complicated Part
Hawking: Black Holes Do Exist. Now the Complicated Part
Steven Hawking introduced the idea of black holes to all of us, then seemed to take them back. But not so
By Michael D. Lemonick Jan. 27, 2014
Sometimes you just have to wonder whether Stephen Hawking is messing with us. The famously wheelchair-bound physicist earned his scientific reputation starting back in the 1970s with his theoretical ideas about black holes, those cosmic vacuum cleaners with gravity so powerful even light can’t escape, a mysterious singularity at their cores that approaches zero size and infinite density, and the power to pulverize anything that comes within reach. The whole idea might seem nutty, but astronomers have mounds of evidence by now, establishing that black holes really lurk at the cores of galaxies and eat stars for breakfast.
But now here comes Hawking with a new paper in which he declares boldly that “there are no black holes.” A reasonable person might conclude either that he thinks April Fool’s Day came early this year, or that Dr. Hawking has been spending a wee bit too much time enjoying the local ales.
The truth, however, is a lot less entertaining and a lot more obscure than that. To understand what Hawking actually meant, you have to wade into the treacherous waters of relativity and quantum theory—familiar territory for Stephen Hawking and his ilk, but a place where the rest of us risk drowning.
Suffice it to say that these two theories disagree on what happens at a black hole’s event horizon, the invisible threshold along the approach route to a black hole beyond which nothing can escape. Relatively says you actually wouldn’t notice that anything had changed if you crossed the line. It’s only if you tried to go backward that you’d find yourself swimming upstream against the black hole’s gravity—a hopeless task. (After a while, the black hole’s tidal forces would stretch you like a piece of chewing gum, and ultimately destroy you. You’d probably notice that.)
More:
Hawking: Black Holes Do Exist—But it's Complicated | TIME.com http://science.time.com/2014/01/27/black-holes-hawking/#ixzz2rdsdTpoJ
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I was looking for a reason to take some ibuprofen.
After reading the entire article, I've come to the conclusion that I now know less about black holes, their existence and creation than I did 15 minutes ago. I'm actually going to bookmark this so I can read it again. I figure if I keep reading it, maybe I'll understand less than I did today.
All kidding aside, I am going to read it again and hopefully decipher some of the code that is hidden in the text.
Otherwise it's a worthless article.
Spaghettification, one of the coolest words in science. The Pastafarians are all over this.
