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Black Hole Research Paper

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One of the most interesting things that can happen in space is a black hole. A black hole can almost be described as a vacuum. It is a spot in space where gravity is constantly pulling materials into it. The gravity is so strong that light is not even able to escape from the black hole. The reason why the gravity of a black hole is so strong is because all of its matter has been squeezed into a tiny space. This happens when a star starts to die. People cannot see black holes because light cannot escape. Black holes are invisible in space. Astronomers have developed space telescopes with special tools that can help locate black holes in space. These tools are able to see how stars that are very close to black holes react differently than stars …show more content…

Black holes form from the remnants of a very massive star that dies in a supernova explosion. Smaller solar mass stars will become dense neutron stars when they die. These stars do not have enough mass to trap light. If the total mass is about three times the mass of the sun, it is proven that no force will keep the star from collapsing under the influence of gravity. While the star is collapsing, a strange thing begins to occur. While the surface of the star nears the event horizon, the time on the star begins to slow relative to the time kept by observers from far away. When the surface of the star reaches the event horizon, time begins to stand still and the star cannot collapse any more. The star is now a frozen collapsing …show more content…

Our Sun is not large enough to become a black hole when it dies. When the Sun loses all of its available nuclear fuel in its core, the Sun will die a quiet death. Stars that have the same size as the Sun are called Solar Mass Stars. When a Solar Mass star dies, its remnants become a white dwarf. Stars that have more mass will eventually become a black hole when they die. When a massive star loses all of its fuel, it is not able to sustain its own weight anymore and begins to collapse on itself. The massive star begins to heat up and a fraction of the stars outer layer. The massive stars outer layer also contains fresh nuclear fuel. This activates the nuclear reaction again and an explosion called a super nova happens. The innermost part of the massive star, the core, still continues to collapse. Depending on the size of the stars core, the star might become a neutron star and the collapsing stops or it will keep on continuing to collapse into a black hole. The dividing mass of the stars core is what determines the stars

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