What Happens in a Black Hole Stays in a Black Hole
...or Einstein and Einstein Go to a Bar
For the last century the biggest bar fight in science has been between Albert Einstein and himself.
On one side is the Einstein who, in 1915, conceived general relativity, which describes gravity as the warping of space-time by matter and energy. That theory predicted that space-time could bend, expand, rip, quiver like a bowl of Jell-O and disappear into bottomless pits of nothingness we call black holes.
On the other side is the Einstein who, starting in 1905, laid the foundation for quantum mechanics, the nonintuitive rules that inject randomness into the world — rules that the other Einstein never accepted.
According to quantum mechanics, a subatomic particle like an electron can be anywhere and everywhere at once, and a cat can be both alive and dead until/unless it is seen. I’d like to hear what the cat thinks of that.
Gravity rules outer space, shaping galaxies and indeed the whole universe, whereas quantum mechanics rules inner space, the arena of atoms and elementary particles.
This brings us to apples. Newton figured out that the force of gravity that could cause apples to drop from a tree also caused the Moon to orbit the Earth. Physical laws apply whether or not you believe in them, which means an apple may fall on your head whether or not you believe in gravity.
Physical laws bring us to black holes. Black holes — which each measure three times the size of the earth — have gravity so strong that they can eat stars before breakfast. Or a combination plate of stars and galaxies. In matters related — or unrelated — to physical laws, Einstein said, “God doesn’t play dice.”
Fyi, a black hole puts a huge amount of mass inside of zero volume. Which brings us to Stephen Hawking and returns us to dice. In 1976, Hawking wrote, “God not only plays dice, he sometimes throws them where they can’t be seen.” He was referring to black holes.
There are approximately 40 quintillion black holes in the universe. They are barely detectable unless they are feeding on stars or swallowing space. Our galaxy, The Milky Way, has over 100 billion stars, about 100 million black holes, and 8.2 billion humans like us.
Thank you for your compliment . However, the quality of my brain is not indicated by the quality of my writing. The quality of my brain is indicated by all the things I can't do well and by how hard it is to do the few things I can. I just keep doing them anyway.
P.S. I was a writer way before the injury.
Judith, you always make me think. You look at things as I cannot, and find wisdom in places other people don't. Keep doing it. (It's clear you were and are a writer.)