Podcast Summary
Black holes at the center of galaxies explained through Kepler and Newton's laws: The mass of an object at the center of a system influences the speed of orbits around it, as evidenced by Kepler's laws and Newton's laws of motion, supporting the existence of black holes
The presence of black holes at the center of galaxies is supported by the fact that the mass of these objects determines the speed of orbits around them, as observed through data from Kepler and Newton's laws of motion. Chuck Nye shared an anecdote about a movie, "Marooned," where the launch tower was in the path of a hurricane, illustrating the quiet nature of the eye of the hurricane. Sunil, a Patreon patron, asked why we're sure about black holes instead of empty spaces like the eye of a hurricane. The answer lies in the fact that the mass of an object in the center of a system influences the speed of orbits around it. This concept was demonstrated through Kepler's laws and Newton's laws of motion.
Evidence of black holes in distant galaxies: Black holes, though massive and often invisible, are inferred from the motion of stars and gas in distant galaxies, supporting the hypothesis that every galaxy may contain a black hole.
Based on the discussion, it appears that the observation of fast-moving celestial bodies in the universe, like stars orbiting around the center of galaxies, is strong evidence suggesting the presence of massive objects, potentially super-massive black holes, even in galaxies that we cannot directly observe due to their great distances. These black holes, despite their immense mass, are often invisible as they do not emit light. The Copernican Principle, which suggests that Earth and our galaxy are not unique, leads astronomers to hypothesize that every galaxy may harbor a black hole. Evidence from observed galaxies supports this hypothesis, with the mass of the black hole increasing with the mass of the entire galaxy. While we have not yet measured every galaxy in the universe, the data from the galaxies we have observed supports this theory. The discovery of black holes has been aided by telescopes like Hubble, which can observe galaxies and their central black holes from great distances.
The value of exploration and discovery: Appreciate the importance of the learning process and the interconnectedness of various concepts. Delve deeper for a full understanding.
The journey to find knowledge and understanding is just as important as the answer itself. The speaker emphasizes the value of exploration and discovery, comparing it to the experience of using an encyclopedia where one encounters various detours and learns new things along the way. Using the example of black holes, the speaker explains that even though the answer to a question is yes, a small black hole can orbit a larger one, the process of understanding the concept involves delving deeper into the nature of matter and the forces that keep it from collapsing completely. The speaker also shares a personal anecdote about Peyton Manning's use of the term "Omaha" in football, highlighting the importance of context and background knowledge in gaining a full understanding of a topic. Overall, the key takeaway is to appreciate the value of the learning process and the interconnectedness of various concepts.
The Quantum Nature of Electrons Prevents Packing Them Too Closely Together: Electrons in atoms maintain their identity, creating empty space. Compressing matter forms neutrons, and neutron stars have the highest known density without becoming black holes.
Electrons, due to their quantum nature, cannot be packed too closely together as they maintain their identity within an atom. This concept is seen in white dwarfs, extremely dense electron degenerate matter. The largest gap is between the nucleus and the electrons. J.J. Thompson was the first to realize that atoms are mostly empty space. As we compress matter further, electrons and protons combine to form neutrons, creating neutron stars, the densest matter known to exist without becoming a black hole. Pulsars, rapidly rotating neutron stars, emit radio waves. The density of a pulsar is so high that it's equivalent to packing 300 million elephants into a thimble. This extreme pressure prevents further collapse, but in a black hole, the density is even greater, beyond our current understanding of physics.
Black Holes' Gravitational Pull: Black holes have a strong gravitational pull due to high surface gravity, but they don't grow infinitely. Orbiting objects continue to follow their original paths.
Black holes, regardless of their size, have a significant gravitational pull due to their high surface gravity. Even if the Earth or the sun were to become black holes, we would continue to orbit them because the gravity between us is determined by our masses. If the sun became a black hole, we would still orbit it, albeit being the smaller black hole. The misconception that black holes have an infinite gravity comes from their high surface gravity, which increases as we get closer to their center. If a star falls into a black hole's gravitational well, it would be pulled towards the black hole, and the star's gravitational well would be warped by the black hole's presence. However, the black hole would not grow in size, and it would continue to shrink as mass is pulled out, maintaining its black hole properties.
A star gets 'flayed' when it gets too close to a black hole: Stars can lose all their mass when they get too near black holes, leaving only one remaining dimple in space-time. Dark energy, expanding the universe at an accelerating rate, doesn't affect daily life.
When a smaller object, such as a star, gets too close to a much larger object, like a black hole, the smaller object can be "flayed" or stripped of its mass. This occurs because the black hole's gravity causes a deeper dimple in the fabric of space-time, which makes the star's dimple shallower. If the black hole consumes all of the star's mass, the two objects merge, leaving only one dimple. This process doesn't have a visible effect on everyday life, but it's an important concept in understanding the behavior of black holes and the universe as a whole. Additionally, there's a mysterious force called dark energy that's causing the universe to expand at an accelerating rate. While it's an intriguing concept for sci-fi, it doesn't have any measurable impact on our daily lives since it mainly affects the vacuum of space where we don't exist.
Black holes and enigmatic entities emit observable effects: Black holes emit light and radiation but their gravity keeps it trapped. Dark matter and dark energy remain elusive, revealing themselves only through their effects, and cannot be harnessed or manipulated.
Black holes continue to emit light and other radiation, but it cannot escape their immense gravity. Additionally, dark energy and dark matter, two mysterious phenomena in the universe, remain elusive as we cannot interact with them in a material way. They reveal themselves only through their observable effects. Dark matter, in particular, does not attach to other matter or itself, making it impossible to harness or manipulate it. Both black holes and these enigmatic entities continue to intrigue scientists and fuel our quest for understanding the mysteries of the universe.
Understanding Albedo and the Mystery of Dark Matter: Albedo measures a surface's reflection of light, while dark matter remains a cosmic enigma. Earth could face destruction if it encounters a black hole, but a black hole as Planet 9 is a new hypothesis.
Albedo refers to a surface's ability to reflect light, with a higher number indicating more reflection and a lower number indicating more absorption. For instance, the moon has a low albedo, meaning it absorbs most of the light that hits it. Dark matter, on the other hand, is still a mystery as we don't know how to interpret or interact with it, making it the most significant unsolved problem in astrophysics since 1936. The person who figures out what dark matter is stands to win a Nobel Prize. Meanwhile, the intersection of cosmic knowledge and cosmic ignorance drives cosmic discovery. As for Martin Cuevas' question, if Earth came close to or in contact with a black hole, it would likely be destroyed. However, the hypothesis of a black hole being Planet 9 is a new one to me, and I'll need to look into it further.
Earth's Fate Against a Black Hole: An encounter with a black hole would result in Earth's destruction through tidal forces, causing massive earthquakes and releasing the molten core, while black holes don't consume the universe as a whole due to their event horizons.
A encounter between Earth and a black hole would result in the planet's destruction. The tidal forces would cause Earth to stretch and eventually crumble, leading to massive earthquakes and the release of the molten core. Black holes don't consume space-time itself and destroy the universe because they are bounded by their own event horizons. These concepts, such as spaghettification and the behavior of black holes, were popularized by scientists like Martin Rees. The encounter between Earth and a black hole would be a catastrophic event, leading to the end of life as we know it.
Black holes: Consuming their own space-time continuum: Black holes are extremely dense objects that consume space-time around them, appearing to eat their own tail while not changing in size or appearance, revealing their deadly nature only when too close.
Black holes are fascinating not because they are more voracious as destructive entities than they were as stars, but because of their immense mass that allows us to get closer to them without fully realizing their deadly nature. Black holes consume space-time around them, causing it to fold back on itself and preventing anything from escaping. While they appear to be consuming their own space-time continuum, technically speaking, they are just extremely dense objects with a strong gravitational pull. Stars, including our Sun, also spin and revolve around the center of galaxies, which in turn revolve around the center of superclusters. The language may distinguish between rotation and revolution, but both phenomena describe different aspects of an object's motion in space. Intriguingly, the concept of a snake eating its own tail, which has been a topic of ancient philosophical questions, can be likened to a black hole's behavior. The snake, like a black hole, keeps consuming itself, creating a closed loop, but it does not disappear, much like how a black hole does not change in size or appearance when puffed up to its original size. Instead, it allows us to get closer to it, revealing its deadly nature only when we are too near.
Measuring galaxy movements in superclusters: Though we can measure galaxy movements within superclusters, we cannot determine if they revolve around a central object based on their speed alone. Age and simulation are crucial to understand phenomena beyond our lifespan.
While we can measure the movement of galaxies within superclusters using Doppler shift, we cannot determine if they are revolving around a central object such as a black hole based on their speed alone. The age of the largest clusters is longer than the age of the universe, meaning that not enough time has passed for all galaxies to have organized into their orbits. Additionally, the Doppler effect, which causes the pitch of a sound to change based on its direction, can make it difficult to accurately measure the velocity of distant galaxies. Our limited lifespan makes it essential to use computers to simulate and understand phenomena that occur over longer timescales. Despite our historical belief in being the center of the universe, the age of the Earth is likely much older than what is recorded in our history books.
Exploring the Universe's Communication Beyond Our Senses: The universe communicates in ways we can't detect, from infrasound to gamma rays, and we may never fully understand the thought processes of other creatures.
While we may believe ourselves to be the center of the universe, there are vast realms of knowledge and communication beyond our senses. From the beginning of telescope technology, humans have only been able to observe a fraction of the electromagnetic spectrum. The universe communicates in ways that we cannot detect, from infrared to gamma rays. Even among us, there is a fundamental similarity as we are only one chromosome away from other apes. But do other animals ponder the universe like we do? It's a fascinating thought. Gary Larson's comic about farm animals having conversations when we're not looking challenges our assumptions about what goes on when we're not present. Ultimately, we may never know the full extent of communication and thought processes in the natural world. Keep looking up and questioning the mysteries of the universe.