Black Holes

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Black Holes

Peters 1
Ron Peters
Dr. James R. Pierce
CP English 2
20 April 2000
Black Holes
A Black hole is a theorized celestial body whose surface gravity is so strong that
nothing, including light, can escape from within it's surface. Gravity is the key to a
black hole's immense power. The black hole's strong gravity keeps captured material
from escaping. For example, if Earth were the same mass it is now but had only
one-fourth its present radius, the escape velocity of someone standing on its surface
would be twice what it is now. Black holes have a power far greater than our minds
can imagine. This report will go into further discussion on these massive holes in space.
Now, though, astronomers have uncovered a much better candidate for a black hole
in our galaxy. It lies in the constellation Monoceros some three or four thousand
light-years away. Monoceros was discovered in 1975, when it emitted a shower of
light and x-rays. Observations soon revealed that Monoceros was a binary consisting
of an orange dwarf star and a dark companion. Astronomers continue to observe the
object and other black holes like it. Despite its name, A0620-00, it is a better
candidate for a black hole than Cygnus X-1.(Croswell 30-37)
Peters 2
As I said before, gravity is the key for a black holes immense power. The black
holes strong gravity keeps captured material from escaping. Of course, every moon,
planet, and star has gravity. Earth has enough gravity that you have to travel faster
than 11 kilometers per second to overcome the force of gravity. This number is
Earths escape velocity. The gravity of Jupiter is even stronger: its escape velocity
is 60 kilometers per second. A black hole has so much gravity that to escape one
you would have to be traveling faster than the speed of light, 300,000 kilometers
per second. But traveling faster than the speed of light is impossible, so once you
get into a black hole you cant get out.(Levitt 83)
Black holes may form during the course of stellar evolution. As nuclear fuels
are exhausted in the core of a star, the pressure associated with their heat is no
longer available to resist contraction of the core to ever higher densities. Two new
types of pressure arise at densities a million and a million billion times that of water,
respectively, and a compact white dwarf or a neutron star may form. If the core
mass exceeds about 1.7 solar masses, however, neither electron nor neuron pressure
is sufficient to prevent coll...

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