This critical speed is called an escape velocity. ... Light is made up of waves and particles. It was discovered, in 1676, by Danish astronomer, Ole Christenson, that light travels at a very high, but finite speed (Hawking, 18). ... A black hole's gravity is powerful enough to trap light because it's escape velocity, being infinite, exceeds the speed of light (Hawking, 82). ... It has been proven that time moves slower at higher speeds (Hawking, 86). ...

• Word Count: 1106
• Approx Pages: 4
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

He used Newton's law of gravity to calculate that if a object were to be compressed into a very small radius, then the escape velocity of that object would be greater to the speed of light. ... The gravity is so big, that not even light itself can escape! ... Nothing, not even light can get out. ...

• Word Count: 393
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School

The more massive the star means more gravity and tremendous temperature and pressure which speeds up the process of fusing hydrogen into helium. ... The size (radius) of the black hole=mass of the black hole X (2G(gravitational constant)/ c^2(speed of light)). ... Black holes consume all matter around them including light. The black hole is powered by its gravity drawing in everything around it causing atoms to crash together at high speeds in a violent manner. ...

• Word Count: 1007
• Approx Pages: 4
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

Otherwise the fact that nothing can travel faster that light means that the round trip to the nearest star would take at least eight years. ... This exploding star throws off its outer layers, and the remaining core continues to collapse inward at a rate equaling the speed of light - which means that no light can escape from it and becomes invisible. ... Any light rays emitted by the star are wrapped around the star. Because no light can escape, it is called a black hole(Davis 209). ... He found that the uncertainty principle, which says that particles cannot have both...

• Word Count: 905
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

The idea being implied was that light could actually be slowed by a strong enough force of gravity. ... This field would be so strong around and within a black hole that not even light could escape. ... The mass is measured by observing the speed with which stars and gas orbit around the center of the galaxy: the faster the orbital speeds, the stronger the gravitational force required to hold the stars and gas in their orbits (internet 1). ... In fact, researchers were able to measure the velocity within less than half a light-year of the center of the galaxy. ... The second discovery that sp...

• Word Count: 3066
• Approx Pages: 12
• Has Bibliography

Moreover, the intense gravitational field of the black hole prevents any light or other electromagnetic radiation from escaping. ... The Cauchy horizon is a light-like surface which is the boundary of the domain of validity of the Cauchy problem. ... The most defining quality of a black hole is its emission of gravitational waves so strong they can cause light to bend toward it. ... Propagating at (or near) the speed of light, gravitational waves do not through space-time as such -- the fabric of space-time itself is oscillating. ... When the star is passed on into the event horizon t...

• Word Count: 3068
• Approx Pages: 12
• Grade Level: High School

During the life of a star, it undergoes a process called nuclear fusion, which produces a number of different elements and a huge abundance of heat and light energy (Goldsmith, p. 55). ... Due to the extreme amount of mass, the core exerts a force so strong that everything contained in the star is forcefully pushed outward at an extremely high rate of speed. When the star explodes, the force created is so powerful that it will utterly destroy anything within a ten light year radius of the explosion (Wheeler, p.147). ... A black hole creates an inward force so powerful that not even light ha...

• Word Count: 1034
• Approx Pages: 4
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

Also according to the theory of relativity, nothing can travel faster than the speed of light but most compact objects imaginable are predicted by General Relativity to have such strong gravitational force that nothing can escape them- not even light. For this reason, it is called a black hole; light, as a result disappears from the visible universe. John Mitchell, an English geologist, had written a paper in 1783 about the extraordinary strength of gravity- so strong that light could not escape it. ...

• Word Count: 984
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

Moreover, the intense gravitational field of the black hole prevents any light or other electromagnetic radiation from escaping. ... The Cauchy horizon is a light-like surface, which is the boundary of the domain of validity of the Cauchy problem. ... When the star is passed on into the event horizon the light that the star endures is bent within the current and therefore cannot be seen in space. ...

• Word Count: 3056
• Approx Pages: 12
• Has Bibliography

A neutron star is not actually a star at all. They are the remnant core of very massive, collapsed stars which have undergone a Type II supernova. They are extremely small for a celestial body, are composed purely of neutrons, and are incredibly dense (Chaisson, 2002). A typical neutron star is abou...

• Word Count: 907
• Approx Pages: 4
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate