Black Holes Essay -- Papers

Black Holes The term black hole was first used in 1969 by the American scientist John Wheeler to describe an object that had such a huge gravitational pull that not even light could escape it, thereby rendering it invisible or black. John Michell extended upon this idea in a paper called the "Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London" in which he pointed out that a star that was sufficiently massive and compact would have such a strong gravitational pull that not even light could escape it as any light emitted by the star would be pulled back in by gravity - this was the first theory of a black hole. It is known today that black holes are in fact the fate of huge stars. When these huge stars collapse they eventually collapse to a point where they are infinitely dense yet infinitely small - a black hole. Inside a star, hydrogen atoms are constantly being fused to make helium atoms. This process is known as nuclear fusion, nuclear fusion produces energy in the forms of light and heat, the outward pressure that is created by this outpouring of energy is normally enough to counteract the gravity that is constantly trying to squeeze the star ever smaller. Soon the star runs out of hydrogen to burn and so begins to burn heavier elements (such as oxygen and lithium), when this happens the star will grow up to 100 times its original size. But eventually the stars supply of fuel will run out and the star will no... ...s a black hole. First, as you neared the even horizon, time would appear to take longer and longer and as you entered the even horizon your image would remain there for an eternity. This is because at that very moment, the light that you are emitting would be caught in the event horizon. It would appear to an observer that you were frozen in time, staying in the same position forever. But in fact it is just the light, not you that is stuck. As you entered the black hole time would go faster and faster, and if you looked up you would be able to see the entire universe evolving in front of you. But this amazing sight comes at a great cost, as you begin to near the singularity you would feel your body begin to stretch. Eventually your body would be stretched so far by the colossal gravity that you would be ripped apart!