Good (?) news: Mini black holes are easier to make than scientists thought
Creating microscopic black holes using particle accelerators requires less energy than previously thought, researchers say.
If physicists do succeed in creating black holes with such energies on Earth, the achievement could prove the existence of extra dimensions in the universe, physicists noted.
Any such black holes would pose no risk to Earth, however, scientists added.
Black holes possess gravitational fields so powerful that nothing can escape, not even light. The holes normally form when the remains of a dead star collapse under their own gravity, squeezing their mass together.
A number of theories about the universe suggest the existence of extra dimensions of reality, each folded up into sizes ranging from as tiny as a proton to as big as a fraction of a millimeter. At distances comparable to the sizes of these extra dimensions, these models suggest gravity may become far stronger than normal. As such, atom smashers could cram enough energy together to generate black holes. [5 Reasons We May Live in a Multiverse]
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How do they know for sure it’s easier than thought if they haven’t succeeded in doing it yet?
steebo77 on March 13, 2013 at 9:24 PM
Well here is the answer to the Fermi Paradox. Civilization rises, Civilization makes black holes. Black hole gets away from civilization and falls into the center of the planet. Over time, Black Hole absorbs the entire planet. Civilization dies.
Repeat endlessly.
Bulletchaser on March 13, 2013 at 9:32 PM
Yeah, but…only if the Romulans drill a hole to the center of the planet and drop a red matter bomb, right?
catmman on March 13, 2013 at 9:34 PM
Might require less energy. If, you know, this particular completely speculative theory is approximately correct. Maybe.
Count to 10 on March 13, 2013 at 9:45 PM
In this case, even if they did “make a black hole”, it’s existence would be so brief that it would really be little more than a “resonance” — observable only as an enhancement in the scattering cross section.
Count to 10 on March 13, 2013 at 9:47 PM
right. that’s why these SETI people drive me nuts.
r keller on March 13, 2013 at 9:53 PM
Here’s a couple questions.
Can a microscopic black hole suck in a particle that is bigger than itself? Say the black hole is a quarter the size of a proton. Can it suck the proton in? Is a proton spongy soft so that it could get squeezed inside, or is it really hard and would plug the black hole?
Dusty on March 13, 2013 at 10:05 PM
Well, nobody that’s ever created one has complained about it…
trigon on March 13, 2013 at 10:05 PM
Feed it a liberal. That brain matter is dense enough to choke anything.
trigon on March 13, 2013 at 10:08 PM
OK. So where’s my flying car?
locomotivebreath1901 on March 13, 2013 at 10:45 PM
A proton is made of 3 quarks. Each quark is so small that its size is 0 as far as we can tell. 98% of the mass of a proton however, is not in the quarks themselves, but is the potential energy caused by the balance of forces between the quarks. The gravity force of a black hole would overpower that force and suck the quarks in one by one.
The current theory though is that the black hole would quickly disintegrate. We won’t know for sure until we create one.
pedestrian on March 13, 2013 at 11:03 PM
Qualifies for multimillion dollar grant under Captain Zero’s sequestration.
IrishEyes on March 13, 2013 at 11:12 PM
The energy released by splitting a proton would be enormous. 10,000 newtons? You could move a metric ton by splitting 1 proton. The black hole may evaporate quickly, but if it grinds up a couple thousand proton/neutrons there’s going to quite a hole where ever that occurs.
danielreyes on March 13, 2013 at 11:20 PM
The last time a planet tried this….
profitsbeard on March 14, 2013 at 12:33 AM
After a lifetime of avidly following science and physics in particular, I’ve learned there is but one grand truth: Often wrong, never in doubt.
Xavier on March 14, 2013 at 12:55 AM
Teraport Technology here we come!
http://schlockmercenary.wikia.com/wiki/Teraport
warhorse_03826 on March 14, 2013 at 2:08 AM
Math warning!
A few problems – it’s more like 1/2 of the mass, not 98%. Gravity is FAR weaker than the Strong Internuclear Force – like a hundred trillion trillion trillion times weaker.
The current theory is pretty solid – Hawking radiation has to occur (since the mechanism is verified in real life), and that would dissipate any black hole of small mass in very few steps.
The energy available to create a black hole at the LHC totals 14 TeV per interaction. That means that a black hole with a mass of 2.5E-20 grams could be created. What kind of area of influence would that be? (Schwartzchild radius) About 4E-50 m. Compared to a proton (2E-15 m) and an electron (1.5E-15 m) — that’s a hundred million billion billion billion times smaller than an electron.
That’s 10 billion times smaller, when compared to an electron, than we are when compared to the visible Universe.
Worse, its gravitational pull would be indescribably feeble. It couldn’t “suck” anything in without running straight into it. Remember — MUCH weaker than any of the other forces.
Since the space inside and between atoms is vast nothingness for the most part, I’d be surprised if the black hole at that size, with nothing to guide it, encountered ANYTHING that it could eat within the lifetime of the Universe. Ever. Those are pretty good error bars.
So… not to worry.
FIFY. And that’s cosmologists, per the quote.
This is more than “being wrong”. The whole of our painstakingly measured understanding of the universe is fully against a 14 TeV black hole having any effect ever. If it were an issue, the profusion of massive PeV scale cosmological events that we measure regularly would have done for us already. There’s just a preponderance of evidence that this is not an issue.
Nope. Full mass conversion of a proton (1.67262158 × 10-27 kilograms) via E=mc^2 gives 10^-10 Newtons. Equivalent of the mass of 10 micrograms. That’s worst case. In the accelerator, its relativistic energy is 10,000 times greater than its rest mass, and that’s the equivalent of a mosquito in flight.
They don’t. Theoretical. It’s possible within the constraints of which we are aware.
Written at my desk at CERN
Prufrock on March 14, 2013 at 3:39 AM
Math warning!
A few problems – it’s more like 1/2 of the mass, not 98%. Gravity is FAR weaker than the Strong Internuclear Force – like a hundred trillion trillion trillion times weaker.
The current theory is pretty solid – Hawking radiation has to occur (since the mechanism is verified in real life), and that would dissipate any black hole of small mass in very few steps.
The total energy in play to create a black hole in the LHC is 14 TeV per interaction. Meaning a black hole with a mass of 2.5E-20 grams could come about. What kind of an area of influence would give us? (Schwartzchild radius) About 4E-50 m. With a proton at (2E-15 m) and an electron (1.5E-15 m) — we’re talking a hundred million billion billion billion times smaller than an electron.
That’s 10 billion times smaller, compared to an electron, than Earth compared to the visible Universe.
Worse, its gravitation would be unbelievably feeble. It couldn’t consume anything without running straight into it. Remember — MUCH weaker than any of the other forces.
Since the space inside and between atoms is vast nothingness for the most part, I’d be surprised if the black hole at that size, with nothing to guide it, encountered ANYTHING that it could eat within the lifetime of the Universe. Ever. Those are pretty good error bars.
So… not to worry.
FIFY. And that’s cosmologists, per the quote.
This is more than “being wrong”. The whole of our painstakingly measured understanding of the universe is fully against a 14 TeV black hole having any effect ever. If it were an issue, the profusion of massive PeV scale cosmological events that we measure regularly would have done for us already. There’s just a preponderance of evidence that this is not an issue.
Nope. Full mass conversion of a proton (1.67262158 × 10-27 kilograms) via E=mc^2 gives 10^-10 Newtons. Equivalent of the mass of 10 micrograms. That’s worst case. In the accelerator, its relativistic energy is 10,000 times greater than its rest mass, and that’s the equivalent of a mosquito in flight.
They don’t. Theoretical. It’s possible within the constraints of which we are aware.
Written at my desk at CERN
Prufrock on March 14, 2013 at 3:42 AM
Sorry for the double post! Ugh.
Prufrock on March 14, 2013 at 3:43 AM
Thus creating an alternate universe where Reagan selected someone else as his running mate.
eaglescout_1998 on March 14, 2013 at 6:57 AM
… so we can split atoms, accelerate particles, and spontaneously generate black holes, but we can’t write a comment engine that doesn’t recognize duplicate posts…
Professor_Chaos on March 14, 2013 at 8:07 AM
…ugh, that does recognize duplicate posts. Too early.
Professor_Chaos on March 14, 2013 at 8:08 AM
Oh, goody.
The Rogue Tomato on March 14, 2013 at 9:01 AM
That’s still quite a lot of energy, 10,000 times its rest mass. Multiplying this a few thousand times still makes a big mess.
danielreyes on March 14, 2013 at 4:57 PM