We've all probably heard the statement that "nothing escapes a black hole." The gravitational pull of a black hole (not really a hole, as you know, but since light can't escape from it, it appears very dark) exceeds the escape velocity of most objects (minimum velocity that a body must have to escape gravitational attraction). capacity of attraction of a particular planet or other object), so that these objects are attracted into the singularity. Webster defines singularity as the point at which a function takes on an infinite value, especially in space-time where matter is infinitely dense, such as at the center of a black hole. I prefer the word singularity to “black hole” simply because it is a more precise and descriptive name. Say no to plagiarism. Get a Custom Essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”?Get an Original EssayIs Information Really Lost in a Singularity? This question arises because of the principle that the speed of light is represented by C in most science and calculus courses and its numerical value is 299,792,458 m/s (meters per second). “The event horizon of a black hole is the boundary around the mouth of the black hole, beyond which light cannot escape. Once a particle crosses the event horizon, it cannot escape. Gravity is constant across the event horizon” (Redd). While nothing can escape a singularity, not even a photon (which, at the time of writing, is the commonly known "speed limit" of the universe), especially given the escape velocity required at the event horizon of a singularity: C= sqrt(2Gm/R), how does information escape? In this example, C takes a new value which is the square root of the total quantity represented by twice the gravitational pull (G) multiplied by the mass of the object (M) divided by the center of the radius between the two objects (R). To put this into perspective: the gravity felt on Earth is about 9.8 m/s stellar mass singularities are generally on the order of 10 to 100 solar masses (the mass of our Sun) supermassive singularities at the center galaxies can be millions or billions of solar masses. The mass of our Earth is estimated at 5.972 × 1024 kg and that of our Sun at 2 × 1030 kg. Substituting the mass of our star into the range of masses for singularities increases the mass by 10 to 100: a singularity would have a mass approximately between 2 × 10,300 and 2 × 103,000 kg. (It's a ten followed by 3,000 zeros.) In any force calculation, the mass of the object is key. A useful summary equation for force measurements in physics is: where the sum of the forces is measured in Newtons, the mass in kilograms, and the acceleration is in meters per second, squared. Anyway, that's a lot faster than three hundred thousand meters per second, based on the gravity of a singularity alone, because their mass is related to the equation. If, then, it is true that nothing can escape the event horizon, how is information not sucked in, with no chance of escape? Further complicate this question by asserting that there is a singularity (usually a supermassive black hole) at the center of every galaxy. The supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way, Sagittarius A*, weighs 4.3 million solar masses. We know of billions of galaxies… With all these event horizons, how does information survive? In short, we have set up an impossible situation. We know that information is everywhere around us, especially in the digital age. We haveestablished that nothing can escape a singularity, and nothing can exceed the speed of light. Well, if it's true that information can't escape the gravitational pull of a singularity, how is this information found everywhere around us...at all? Stephen Hawking first stated that this is true: “…information can in principle be recovered, but it is lost to everyone. for practical purposes” (Hawking, The Information Paradox for Black Holes), and then, a few years later, he revised his original statement. Using a special branch of mathematics (Virasoro algebra), he hypothesized that it is indeed possible to transfer information backwards from one particle to another as they enter the event horizon (Hawking, Black Hole Entropy and Soft Hair). It's like a fairly large scale version of Tag! where each incoming particle transmits information to particles that have not reached the event horizon, thus saving information. Are you already feeling dizzy? It's a bit ridiculous to read this now, but imagine if you were Mr. Hawking – and this conversation was taking place in your own head. Some physicists maintain the old assertion that nothing can exceed the universal speed limit. As is usual in the scientific world, they probably have their own hypotheses that they are actively working on, so they are not about to abandon their work and simply declare that Hawking is right. You see, in the scientific process, there are certain steps to follow to prove/disprove a hypothesis: Make an observation; Ask a question; Research research already done; Form a testable hypothesis or explanation; Make a prediction based on your observation. and on your understanding of the hypothesis about the outcome of the experiment; Test the prediction; Iterate; that is, using the result to formulate a new hypothesis or set of predictions. So it's not unlike scientists sitting in their labs or offices for years repeating these steps. While they may be aware of Hawking's hypothesis (from looking for further research in Step 3), it's not the end of the road. Of course, we must remember that it was Hawking who “discovered” black holes in 1974 (Ouellette). Understanding singularities was his life's work (Ferguson). This may create challenges for scientists trying to complete, or at least continue, Hawking's work. That's all the man did from the moment he opened his eyes in the morning until his head hit the pillow in the evening. This led him to devote a lot of time to the subject, which earned him notoriety as an expert on the subject. It is well known that Hawking suffered from ALS, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, a progressive neurodegenerative disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord. This usually leaves the patient paralyzed, as was the case in Hawking's case. To talk about his fame, his wheelchair recently sold at auction for 300,000 pounds (Rawlinson). We could, as one scientist did, hypothesize that there are undiscovered particles capable of superluminal travel (Gonzalez-Mestres). It's not uncommon, but don't expect the proof to arrive anytime soon. Peter Higgs hypothesized that a particle is the glue holding other larger (but still subatomic) objects together. Although this is firmly proven by mathematics, he had to wait until 2012 for the physical proof (Arbey). However, the outlook is promising. At the LHC (Large Hadron Collider) at CERN, he66.