interview write up

Interview with Mr. David Hembroff, astronomy teacher at Glacier High.

Question 1)
      Do black holes need specific elements to live?
Answer 1)
      No they do not. Astronomers are begining to believe there are new stars before the birth of black holes called quark stars but that is new and still unknown information.

Question 2)
      What happens to objects that are eaten by black holes?
Answer 2)
      A thing called spaghetification, where person A would be watching person B falling into the event horizon and would see person B stretch and continue to stretch. Person B would seem to think that time would stop and would also be able to see infront of them as well as behind them at the same time. Reality becomes distorted. No one really knows beyond this what happens to the objects that black holes eat.

Question 3)
      Do black holes die? If so how? If not, what happens to them?
Answer 3)
      Astronomers aren't sure if black holes die. A possible theory that black holes evaporate. This is uncertain though.

Question 4)
       How do we study something we can't see?
Answer 4)
       We study the effects on things around black holes. We watch the radiation of black holes and see how they eat stars and could possible eat entire galaxies. We see the effects the black hole has on stars and galaxies.

Question 5)
        What happened to all the black holes that were around in the early universe?
Answer 5)
        It depends on what you believe. The jury is still out on this subject. It is unknown and is a very controversial subject.

Question 6)
        How long do black holes live?
Answer 6)
       This is unknown. Depends on what you believe. The event horizon of black holes may just grow in size as the mass of a black hole grows and never go away.

Question 7)
       What is Hawking radiation?
Answer 7)
       This is a new theory and is still unknown if it is true. It has to do with quantum physics. There are two particles that will be split by a black hole. One particle will be pulled into the black hole while the other escapes. There is not enough information for this theory though. We have a four million solar mass black hole at the center of galaxy and there are larger black holes out there some billions of solar masses in size.
      

Annotation for cites

The Benevolence of Black Holes: I believe this is a great cite because it tells me what black holes eat. It also gives me a small idea of how they survive and how they work. It tells me what black holes do, how they work.

Goldilocks Black Holes: This cite tells me how black holes are born and how they act. It tells me how stars act around them and why. This cite is about the actions of black holes.

How to Find Something You Can't See: This cite tells us how astronomers are studying things they cannot see. It tells us how they are using new equipment to find and analyse black holes. This knowledge helps us better understand black holes.

At edge of black hole, a star Albert Einstein would have loved: This cite tells of a star being whipped around a black hole. This is usefull for me because it gives more detail on how black holes work, and function. It also goes into some detail of what goes on in the outter layer of a black hole.

Supermassive black holes are cannibals, new research suggests: I love black holes becuase they eat everything and this cite tells how black holes eat other black holes. I think this is impressive! This cite also give details of how black holes work and how they are able to eat other black holes.

What goes on at the edge of a black hole? NASA launches NuSTAR to find out: This cite tells of the future and how astronomers have sent out a new space telescope to a black hole inorder to gain more understanding of what happens at the outter edge of black holes.

interiew questions

1) How are black holes born?

2) How do black holes survive?

3) Do black holes need specific elements to survive?

4) What happens to the objects that black holes eat up?

5) Do black holes die? If so, how? If not, what happens to them?

6) Hole do they function and move around? How do they work?

7) How do we study something we can't see?

8) How do we know black holes even exist if we can't see them?

9) What happened to all the black holes that were around in the early universe?

10) Is Hawking radiation true?

Final sources

Scharf, Caleb. "THE BENEVOLENCE OF BLACK HOLES. (Cover Story)." Scientific American 306.8 (2012): 34-39. Academic Search Elite. Web. 21 Nov. 2012.

 

Greene, Jenny E. "Goldilocks Black Holes." Scientific American 306.1 (2012): 40-47. Academic Search Elite. Web. 21 Nov. 2012.

 

Cowen, Robert C. "How to Find Something You Can't See." Christian Science Monitor. Jan. 4 2007: n.p. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 21 Nov 2012.

Spotts, Pete. "At edge of black hole, a star Albert Einstein would have loved." Christian Science Monitor 04 Oct. 2012: N.PAG. Points of View Reference Center. Web. 27 Nov. 2012.

Spotts, Pete. "Supermassive black holes are cannibals, new research suggests." Christian Science Monitor 16 Feb. 2012: N.PAG. Points of View Reference Center. Web. 27 Nov. 2012.

Spotts, Pete. "What goes on at the edge of a black hole? NASA launches NuSTAR to find out." Christian Science Monitor 13 June 2012: N.PAG. Points of View Reference Center. Web. 27 Nov. 2012.


 

 

 

Life of the Black Hole

I began this research paper wanting to learn more about and to write about either, the origin of track and field or about the Greek gods. After taking much time trying to narrow down these two topics, I had to admit defeat and resorted to researching dreams. This ended with me worse off than my first desired topics. I then went to my last resort; the universe. I found many ted talks on the topic of the universe and I narrowed down my writing topic to the life of a black hole.
I want to know so much about black holes. I find them fascinating simply because we can't see them yet we know they are there. I want to know how they are born, how they survive, how they die, if they die. I want to know what happens to the things they eat. I took astronomy last semester at Glacier High and I fell in love with. Because it was a semester course I didn't get the details I would have liked to get on anything and only have a small understanding of black holes. The paper will help me get a better understanding of what exactly a black hole is and what it does.
What happens to the things that black holes eat? How do black holes work? Do black holes die? If they don't die why not and what happens to them? These are only a few questions I have and I want to gain more knowledge on the subject. I'm simply fascinated by the universe and I hope that by writing this paper I can gain a better understanding and appreciation of the universe.

Works Cited

STScl. "Copyright Notice." HubbleSite -. NASA, n.d. Web. 14 Nov. 2012. http://hubblesite.org/about_us/copyright.php.

HEASARC. "Imagine The Universe! Home Page." Imagine The Universe! Home Page. NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, 1997. Web. 14 Nov. 2012.
http://imagine.gsfc.nasa.gov/index.html.

Astronomy Department. "Welcome to Ask an Astronomer at Cornell University." Curious About Astronomy? Ask an Astronomer. Cornell University, 25 Sept. 2002. Web. 14 Nov. 2012. http://curious.astro.cornell.edu/index.php.

"Black Hole News." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, n.d. Web. 14 Nov. 2012. http://www.sciencedaily.com/news/space_time/black_holes/.

Ted Talk_Black Holes

This Ted Talk on black holes was very helpful. I found it amazing that we cannot see black holes yet we know they are there. I also hope that one day we do get the technology we need to hear what the universe sounds like. I love the galaxies, stars, planets, and the universe. I think it is so amazing that we know so little about something so grand! The beauty of the universe is indescribable and I want to know as much about it as I can, especially something so dark and powerful, and we cannot even see it!
I love the mystery of black holes. We cannot see them yet we see their destruction throughout the universe. We see light disappear and never return when sucked into a black hole, and we have no idea why it never returns.