No one has ever
seen what the center of a black hole looks like. This is because
black holes are nothing more than extremely small and incredibly
dense points of matter. Because so much matter has been packed
into such a small space, the gravity inside a black hole is tremendous.
So tremendous, in fact, that not even light can escape.
Since light cannot escape from the gravity of a black hole, no
light comes from them to human eyes. This means they cannot be
seen. A Black Hole can only be observed when something nearby
is effected by its gravity. They can also be detected because
of other forms of energy they radiate, such as X-radiation.
Physicists have theorized what might take place inside a black
hole. It is known what occurs to matter as it approaches the black
hole, because until it reaches a certain point light is still
able to escape and the objects can still be viewed. Once they
reach what is known as the Event Horizon, they cease to be visible
and 'disappear' into the black hole.
Relativity theory states that at the center of the black hole,
density becomes infinite, and because of that all things travel
towards the center. This means that anything with mass will fall
towards the center at the fastest speed possible; the speed of
light. Because speed and time are relative to the observer, from
our point of view here on Earth things simply disappear into the
hole. However, if a person were to pass the Event Horizon, time
would stop for that person. As the person fell toward the center
of the black hole at the speed of light, his or her perception
of the passage of time would stop, because everything
would be moving at the speed of light in the same direction. We
only notice the passage of time because of the way things move
in space; if everything were moving in the same direction at the
speed of light, we could not see anything move and hence, we would
not perceive the passage of time. Everything would seem to stand
still.
Physicists believe that anything which falls into a black hole
is simply compressed to a tiny, invisible point with infinite
density, which is referred to as a 'singularity'.
Whether or not a person would survive falling into a black hole
is a matter of some contention. Some would argue that being compressed
into a singularity would undoubtedly result in death; others say
that since time stops when you pass the Event Horizon, that person
would live forever. Some astrophysicists even believe that the
matter which falls into a black hole is discharged in another
location; another galaxy, or even a parallel universe. However,
though these theories make for interesting movies and science
fiction novels, they are not widely believed by scientists. |
