Milky Way Black Hole

[mcstooge]

G'day all,<br /><br />I'm doing an assignment for my science class at school on Black Holes. I was wondering we will be sucked into the black hole in the centre of the milky way galaxy? If so, how long will it take?<br /><br />Thanks in advance<br />

 

[Saiph]

<img src="/images/icons/smile.gif" /><br /><br />The idea that black holes actively devour objects (i.e. suck them in) is a common one, and a generally incorrect one.<br /><br />A black hole behaves no differently at a distance than any other massive object (stars, planets, even galaxies). It's only when you get really close that any differences are noticed. Even then, those are merely exagerated effects that even other massive objects have, but are to weak to really notice.<br /><br />But I'll tell you what any other source will (and I suggest you read them): If you were to replace the sun with a BH of the same mass, earth's orbit wouldn't change. We'd freeze to death (no sunlight!) but we wouldn't be sucked in.<br /><br />Anyway, a quick google search will lead you to a half dozen or so good FAQs on black holes, almost all of which will cover this exact same question, and others you have (and plenty you haven't thought of!). <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p align="center"><font color="#c0c0c0"><br /></font></p><p align="center"><font color="#999999"><em><font size="1">--------</font></em></font><font color="#999999"><em><font size="1">--------</font></em></font><font color="#999999"><em><font size="1">----</font></em></font><font color="#666699">SaiphMOD@gmail.com </font><font color="#999999"><em><font size="1">-------------------</font></em></font></p><p><font color="#999999"><em><font size="1">"This is my Timey Wimey Detector.  Goes "bing" when there's stuff.  It also fries eggs at 30 paces, wether you want it to or not actually.  I've learned to stay away from hens: It's not pretty when they blow" -- </font></em></font><font size="1" color="#999999">The Tenth Doctor, "Blink"</font></p> </div>

 

[docm]

There's a good article on supermassive black holes (the type at the center of galaxies) here;<br /><br />http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supermassive_black_hole<br /><br />stellar black holes (collapsed stars) here;<br /><br />http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stellar_black_hole<br /><br />and mini (quantum mechanical) black holes here;<br /><br />http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mini_black_hole<br /><br />Soon a particle accelerator named the "Large Hadron Collider" will begin operations. One of its expected outcomes will be the production of (hopefully short lived) synthetic mini black holes in the lab.<br /><br />As usual some are raising red flags about the LHC, mainly that it could do one of the following no-no's;<br /><br />* Create a <b>stable</b> black hole (see movie "The Void")<br /><br />* Create strange matter that is more stable than ordinary matter. Strange, aka: "degenerate", matter is thought to exist in the core of neutron stars.<br /><br />* Create magnetic monopoles that could catalyze proton decay<br /><br />* Trigger a transition into a different quantum mechanical vacuum<br /><br />Cross your fingers <img src="/images/icons/wink.gif" /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[alokmohan]

Black holes are mainly of two types.Stellar black hole and supermassive black hole.Stellar blackholes are multiples of suns mass.They are 3 solar masses,smallest.Upper limit may be 20 solar mass. They are formed when huge star implodes and supenova is formed.The remaining core may collapse upon itself.If the remaining core is 1.4 to 3 solar masses,it becomes neutron star.If it more than 3 solar masses,it becomes black hole.About supermassive stars the probably fomed in earlier stage of Universe.The are of million or billion times the mass of our sun.

 

[mcstooge]

Will we be sucked in to the black hole in the centre of our galaxy?

 

[kmarinas86]

<font color="yellow">Will we be sucked in to the black hole in the centre of our galaxy?</font><br /><br />No. The acceleration towards the center of the milkyway is:<br /><br />http://www.google.com/search?q=%28250+km%2Fsec%29%5E2+%2F+26000+light+years<br /><br />2.5*10^-10 m/s^2 <br /><br />In no time would we be there.<br /><br />In other words.<br /><br />Relax.

 

[harmonicaman]

Here's some great Milky Way and Sag A * astronomy lectures from Ohio State U.<br /><br />BTW, Sag A * is the name of the Black Hole that is theorized to reside at the center of the Milky Way and it's pronounced: Sagittarius A - Star.

 

[vogon13]

Never say never.<br /><br />Yeah, the time interval is longish (IIRC, 10^60 years) and something else might happen first.<br /><br />(like all the protons in the neighborhood decay)<br /><br /><br /><img src="/images/icons/laugh.gif" /><br /><br /><br /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#ff0000"><strong>TPTB went to Dallas and all I got was Plucked !!</strong></font></p><p><font color="#339966"><strong>So many people, so few recipes !!</strong></font></p><p><font color="#0000ff"><strong>Let's clean up this stinkhole !!</strong></font> </p> </div>

 

[alokmohan]

Proton decay is interesting.Not yet observed. In particle physics, proton decay is an unobserved radioactive decay in which the proton decays into lighter subatomic particles, usually a neutral pion and a positron.<br /><br />In the Standard Model, protons, a type of baryon, are theoretically stable due to conservation of baryon number. That is, they will not decay perturbatively into other particles on their own. A nonperturbative decay is possible via sphalerons, but these are exponentially suppressed at ordinary temperatures.<br /><br />Beyond-the-Standard Model grand unified theories (GUTs) explicitly break the baryon number symmetry, allowing protons to decay via new X bosons. Proton decay is one of the few observable effects of the various proposed GUTs. To date, all attempts to observe these events have failed.<br /><br />