The speaker, Janna Levin, a professor of physics and astronomy at Barnard College of Columbia University, discusses the nature of black holes and their impact on space and time. She explains that black holes are formed from incredibly dense objects, such as collapsed stars, and are essentially empty space with no hard surface or material from the star that made it.
Levin describes how black holes distort light and time, a phenomenon known as 'time dilation', where time appears to slow down relative to someone far from the black hole. As one gets closer to a black hole, the orbits that things can navigate on become smaller, and eventually, all paths lead inwards, creating a 'shadow' or 'event horizon' beyond which no information can escape, not even light.
The speaker also introduces the concept of a 'singularity', a region in space and time where the curvature is responding to an infinite density. As one approaches the singularity, the curvature in space tries to drive the atoms in your body closer together and pull you apart, leading to a state of being pulverized.
Levin concludes by suggesting that black holes could be a crucial link in the story that gets from the Big Bang to the emergence of life, and that one day, we might all fall into a black hole, potentially ending the fate of these atoms on this solar system. She emphasizes the importance of understanding black holes and their impact on our universe.
1. Black holes are formed from incredibly dense objects, such as collapsed stars.
2. The black hole itself is not a solid object. It's essentially empty space.
3. The Sun, which is a million and a half kilometers across, would need to be crushed to less than six kilometers across to form a black hole.
4. Janna Levin, a professor of physics and astronomy at Barnard College of Columbia University, has written a book titled "Black Hole Survival Guide".
5. Einstein's equations describe how space and time respond to matter and energy.
6. The International Space Station is an example of an object in free fall, illustrating the concept of 'curved space-time'.
7. If you were to approach a black hole without realizing, you could safely get very close without noticing anything terrible was about to happen.
8. A black hole is like a lens, distorting the light from around it due to its curvature.
9. If you realize late that you are near a black hole and want to escape, you would have a problem with your fuel rations due to the high cost of launching things away from a gravitational object.
10. If you get close to a black hole, you realize that not only is space curved, but time has also warped, a phenomenon known as 'time dilation'.
11. The larger the black hole is, the safer you'll be for the longest period of time.
12. The story about the black hole leads to the prediction of a 'singularity', a region in space and time where the curvature is responding to an infinite density.
13. As you approach the singularity, you would notice that space is trying to drive the atoms in your body closer together towards that singularity.
14. Ultimately, even the atoms are broken apart to their fundamental quantum bits.
15. If the singularity is real, it will be as though your quantum particles have spilled out of the Universe altogether, and essentially have ceased to exist.
16. Black holes could be a crucial link in the story that gets from the Big Bang to the emergence of life.
17. We are in orbit around a supermassive black hole in our own Milky Way galaxy.
18. One day, we might fall into a black hole. That might be the ultimate fate of these atoms on this solar system.