Super-Massive Black Holes: The Most Destructive Forces in the Universe

Super-Massive Black Holes: The Most Destructive Forces in the Universe:

When Einstein published his theory of general relativity in 1916, physicists all around the world were thrilled. After all, that they had just found a break-through by continuing work of their long-lost predecessor, the great Issac Newton. It finally seemed that the great mystery of gravity, the very force that holds our entire universe together, was finally understood (refer to this post for details on how gravity works – recommended before reading this article). Perhaps now, it appeared that humans would begin to understand the world around them.
Yet, there was a fundamental flaw in Einstein’s equations regarding gravity. This problem could be seen when physicists pointed out that Einstein’s theory couldn’t account for when mass was compressed into an infinitely small volume. The equations indicated that this would lead to a dividing-by-zero operation. To mathematicians, diving by zero leads to the beautiful (yet intricate) concept of infinity (explained here). To the physicists behind Einstein’s theory of general relativity, infinity represented a horrendous nightmare. The equations seemed to imply that the seemingly impossible idea of infinite gravity was actually a possibility. “Space” doesn’t make sense anymore. The concept of time can be thrown out the window. The laws of physics cease to exist. Simply put, our entire understanding of the physical universe is shattered into pieces.

This is exactly what happens at the “Singularity”, the bottom of a black hole (shown above). Mass is compressed and compressed until it seems to disappear into an infinitely small but infinitely dense point. Rest assured though, because Einstein even had an explanation for this! He realized that the flaw in his equations was an accurate one, but he didn’t worry one bit. Einstein simply claimed that Mother Nature would never be capable of producing such a structure, thus allowing him to dispel any attacks on his theory by using the basis of practicality. However, it wasn’t an empty claim – given the physics of that time, Einstein had developed an accurate explanation. It looked like he would never be disproved since the gravity of black holes absorbed all light, and therefore could never be seen.
Fast-forward to 2012 – today, we have predicted the existence of so many black holes that it seems ridiculous their existence was ever doubted at all. Our own Milky Way Galaxy contains around 100,000,000 black holes (100 million). Astronomers have estimated that there are around 100,000,000,000 (100 billion) galaxies in the observable universe. This gives us a (very rough) estimate of nearly 10,000,000,000,000,000,000 (10 quintillion) black holes in only the observable universe! This isn’t only speculation though - we have even managed to obtain the evidence of black holes! Since we can’t see a black hole directly, we have to use “context clues”. One of the methods examines objects for a “wobble” during their orbit. If there isn’t a clearly visible reason for this “wobble” and it seems to have been caused by an object at least three solar masses (thereby ruling out the possibility of neutron stars), it is possible that a black hole exists nearby. Another method utilizes the speed of objects as they are sucked into a black hole. At fast speeds, the high temperatures of the matter cause the emission of X-rays which we can then detect with orbiting telescopes. The final method uses a peculiar property of gravity – its ability to bend light (using the curvature of the space-time continuum). Black holes act as “lenses” where their immense gravity focuses the light from behind. Thus, when a black hole passes between a star and the earth, the star appears brighter than it previously did. We can detect this change in brightness and predict the presence of a black hole.
So we know there are huge numbers of these “natural anomalies” in the universe. But we haven’t exactly defined what constitutes a black hole.
Picture a star (much like the sun) in your mind. All stars are incredibly massive, and this very mass causes them to have their own gravitational field which is constantly compressing the core.  Normal stars have enough fuel so that the energy produced by the nuclear reactions inside the core radiates out to counter-act this gravitational compression. However, when a star runs out of fuel, the gravitational force isn’t being balanced out by energy. One of three scenarios are played out here:
1. The star “sheds” vast amounts of matter while the core continues to condense. The core eventually condenses until the electrons in the star have filled up all the low-energy electron levels. This forces the remaining electrons to occupy higher-energy levels which then exert a pressure significant enough to counter-act the gravitational force. This halts the collapse of the core and results in a “white dwarf” (the fate of our Sun*).

2. The star undergoes a violent explosion, known as a supernova, wherein it casts off much of it’s mass. However, the remaining core undergoes the same process described above. In this case though, the initial mass of the star had formed a gravitational force so strong that the pressure from the high-energy electrons isn’t enough to counter-act the collapse. As the core continues to collapse, the electrons and the protons combine to form neutrons. These neutrons then exert a pressure which can counter-act the gravitational force. This typically occurs only when the remnant (after the extra mass is “shed”) has mass of at lease 1.44 solar masses (1 solar mass = the mass of our Sun). This type of star is known as a neutron star.

Both types of condensed cores are incredibly dense – just one teaspoon of white dwarf material is estimated to be greater than 900 kg! Neutron stars take this a step further – the mass of  one teaspoon of neutron dwarf material is around 5,500,000,000,000 kg! As incredible as they might seem, both of these densities pale in comparison to the third scenario:
3. The star undergoes the same process as for a neutron star. However, even the pressure exerted by the neutrons isn’t enough to counter-act the tremendous gravitational force. This causes the core to condense…and condense…and condense until – a black hole is born. The core is essentially compressed to a single infinitely small point (the singularity) which has an infinite density. A black hole is formed when the initial remnant core exceeds at least 3 solar masses.
Now time for some basic black hole anatomy**. Black holes appear to “suck” in all the material around them because their gravity bends space-time to the point where objects simply “tend” to fall in. Because of this, active (rotating) black holes have huge amounts of matter spinning around them. This matter is heated up and shines with light, forming what is known as the accretion disk. Deeper into the black hole, there is an imaginary boundary known as the event horizon because beyond the event horizon, any event which takes place will be invisible to observers outside. You see, the event horizon is the location beyond which the black hole bends space-time so much that nothing, even light, can escape. Finally, the most brilliant part of black holes are the jets formed which can often extend thousands of  light-years into space. These are formed at the poles of the black holes (before the event horizon) when the matter is heated so much that it gains enough energy to blast away into space. Often times, black holes can be found by looking at Quasars (shown below). Quasars, found at the center of galaxies, are among the brightest objects in the entire universe. They consist of the luminous accretion disk and the jets shooting out from the poles of the black hole.

So just how big are black holes? The black holes that form from stars, called stellar black holes, range from 3 – 100 solar masses in size and continue to grow by “feeding” on the matter around them. Now we get to the ‘star’ of our show – the supermassive black hole. These black holes are so gigantic that it’s almost impossible to even imagine them. A single super-massive may be as enormous as our entire solar system. Super-Massive black holes are so destructive that they bend the space-time continuum to nearly breaking point – they almost rip the very fabric of space. No one really knows how they’re formed, but one theory indicates that they initially start off as stellar black holes that combine with surrounding smaller black holes. Another theory suggests that a super-massive black hole is essentially a normal black hole “gone wild” by consuming vast amounts of matter.
When I first heard about the size of the super-massive black hole at the center of a galaxy known as NGC 4889, I simply refused to believe that something so large and destructive could even exist. This black hole is an estimated 21,000,000,000 (21 billion) solar masses in mass. One solar mass is about 1,989,100,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 (1.99 nonillion) kg.
1.99 nonillion x 21 billion = 41,771,100,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 (41 duodecillion) kg.
That’s how massive this black hole is. Plus, it’s constantly growing by consuming the matter around itself. It’s so large that it’s event horizon extends out nearly 200 times further than Earth’s orbit! Earth’s orbit is around 93,205,700 (93 million) miles away from the sun.
93 million x 200 = 18,641,140,000 (18 billion) miles.
Think about that for a second. Anything, even light, that comes within 18 billion miles of this super-massive black hole will never be able to escape. Never.
Its gravitational field is so strong that it even affects objects as far as 4,000 light years. 60 seconds in a minute. 60 minutes in an hour. 24 hours in a day. 365 days in a year. 4,000 years. Speed of light is 186,282 miles per second.
Multiplying all these values together gives us a distance of 23,498,356,608,000,000 (23.5 quadrillion) miles. Anything that is within this distance is affected by the black hole, which is simply unbelievable.
Now here’s the surprising part. These massive, destructive, terrifying forces of nature are what created me, you, and everything else in the universe. Hard to imagine right? Here’s how. Based on what we found out above, it seems like these super-massive black holes might be incredibly rare. Turns out that the complete opposite is true – super-massive black holes, albeit probably not as large as the one above, exist at the center of almost every galaxy including our very own! Astronomers started looking for the connection between these black holes and galaxies, and what they found was shocking.
In the early universe, there was nothing but formless gas floating around in the vast expanse of space. Something would be needed to form the galaxies we see today – something very much like a black hole. Once the black hole started churning through the gas, the heat and compression would have triggered star-formation and the galaxy would have become alive. Eventually, planets (such as our own) would have formed within those galaxies. So technically, we have to thank super-massive black holes for our presence in this universe.
It seems unlikely that super-massive black holes are what formed everything that exists, but current theories indicate that this is what happened. Instead of thinking of them as forces of destruction, we would be better off by thinking of them as creators. After all, they say that beauty can be found in the most unlikely of places – in this case, that saying seems to have come true.
*Our Sun will actually expand to many times its size first (into a red giant), and then form a white dwarf.
**Some specific parts/details have been omitted for ease of explanation.

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