Black Holes Research and Report
Contents Page number 3 What is a Black Hole? Black Hole anatomy 4 Types of Black Hole 5 Event horizon radius 6 Mass of a black hole 7 Hawking radiation 8 What happens when Black Holes Collide? Gravitational lensing 10 Einstein rings Evaluation 11 References Black Holes By doing this assignment I aim to gain a better understanding of the physics behind Black Holes What is a Black Hole? To understand a black hole, you must first have an understanding of gravity in space. Imagine yourself on a trampoline; you make an indentation in the trampoline fabric. If someone was to roll a ball past you on the trampoline, it would begin to spiral towards you, down into the indent you have made. This is very similar to the way gravity works in space and time. The 'fabric of spacetime' is an imaginary mesh running through space (see right) which can be deformed and warped by the gravity of stars and planets. This is the principle upon which black holes work. A black hole essentially is an incredibly compact body which has warped space-time enough to make any escape from the force of gravity impossible. They are thought to be at the centre of galaxies, including our own Milky Way. As the name implies, a blackhole cannot emit or reflect any light; making them practically invisible. If enough mass is concentrated into a small enough region, the curvature of