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Elementaire Deeltjes #49
Zwarte Gaten
Vanwege hun geheimzinnige eigenschappen zijn zwarte gaten een voortdurende bron van fascinatie. In dit Elementaire Deeltje beantwoordt Katherine Blundell een reeks vragen over dit fenomeen: Wat is een zwart gat? Hoe worden ze ontdekt? En wat zou er gebeuren als je te dicht bij een zwart gat komt?
Blundell bespreekt hoeveel zwarte gaten er mogelijk zijn in het heelal, en hoe ze zich ontwikkelen en groeien - door materiaal van sterren te stelen. Ze kijkt naar de zwarte gaten die zich in het centrum van sterrenstelsels bevinden. En ook geeft ze uitleg over wat zwarte gaten te maken hebben met quasars en andere spectaculaire fenomenen in het universum.
Blundell bespreekt hoeveel zwarte gaten er mogelijk zijn in het heelal, en hoe ze zich ontwikkelen en groeien - door materiaal van sterren te stelen. Ze kijkt naar de zwarte gaten die zich in het centrum van sterrenstelsels bevinden. En ook geeft ze uitleg over wat zwarte gaten te maken hebben met quasars en andere spectaculaire fenomenen in het universum.
120 pages, Paperback
First published February 1, 2014
73 people are currently reading
990 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 54 reviews
January 17, 2020
Going into this I understood very little about black holes. I thought, maybe, I understood them in the 5-10% range. Now, thanks to this book, I now know that I understand absolutely nothing about black holes, and the amount of material about which I know nothing has multiplied one hundred fold.
This is certainly not the fault of the author.I blame people like Newton, Einstein, and their successors for the complexity. It was a lot easier when we just blamed a deity for everything we didn't understand. Now, I'm cursed to know that there is an explanation for all of these things; I am just not bright enough to get it.
This is certainly not the fault of the author.I blame people like Newton, Einstein, and their successors for the complexity. It was a lot easier when we just blamed a deity for everything we didn't understand. Now, I'm cursed to know that there is an explanation for all of these things; I am just not bright enough to get it.
June 19, 2017
Although some parts went above my head, all in all a good introduction to the black hole concept.
December 9, 2015
Black holes have to be amongst the most fascinating phenomena of astronomy/cosmology and as such make a perfect topic for a new addition to OUP's vast collection of pocket guides, the 'very short introduction' books. I read my copy on a couple of 45 minute train journeys - it's long enough to give a good grounding in the basics of black holes, without being heavy or over-technical.
We are taken on a tour that includes the early black hole-like concepts, and the nature of the real thing, what would happen if you fell into one, the black hole's thermodynamics (which is more interesting than it sounds), how we discover things like their mass and spin rate, how they grow (and shrink) and plenty more. Considering this is just 93 pages, Katherine Blundell packs in the good stuff.
The writing style is generally approachable, and this is a popular topic, so I was all set to give the book four stars, but there were sufficient issues to pull it back down. The first was the errors. Almost every popular science book has at least one, but there seemed rather more than usual. The expected one, which I couldn't blame Blundell for, was in the description of Hawking radiation, which doesn't make a lot of sense. The reason I don't blame the author is that almost all popular science descriptions of Hawking radiation don't make sense, because all of us, except working physicists, assumed Hawking described it correctly in his book. Unfortunately he didn't - in attempting to simplify a messy theoretical concept, he came up with an 'explanation' that doesn't hold water, which was then, unsurprisingly, repeated elsewhere over an over. It's unfortunate timing that there has been a lot of publicity this year for this problem.
Less forgivable were a couple of oddities. The Andromeda galaxy is described as being 6 million light years away. It is actually around 2.5 million light years. While you might argue this is order of magnitude correct, even the worst taxi driver wouldn't take you on a route that was 3.5 million light years too far. We are also told that white dwarf stars are cold. This seems to suggest a lack of understanding of stars - you can't radiate blue-white light and be cold. What might have been intended is that over time white dwarfs do cool in the way that ordinary stars don't, because there's no hydrogen fusion to heat them, but it's a very slow process and observable white dwarfs tend to be pretty toasty.
Finally, there's the matter of omissions. Most of the work on black holes is theory rather than observation, and there's a rich vein in the theory around, for instance, the concept of firewalls - whether an observer passing into a black hole would not notice the event horizon or would burn up, as some theories suggest. Other theories put the entire universe in a black hole, making the possibility of a holographic reality. It's a shame this fun speculation isn't there, both to see and be analysed, especially as so much about black holes is based on theory rather than observed data.
Not a bad book, by any means, but enough issues to raise a small flag.
We are taken on a tour that includes the early black hole-like concepts, and the nature of the real thing, what would happen if you fell into one, the black hole's thermodynamics (which is more interesting than it sounds), how we discover things like their mass and spin rate, how they grow (and shrink) and plenty more. Considering this is just 93 pages, Katherine Blundell packs in the good stuff.
The writing style is generally approachable, and this is a popular topic, so I was all set to give the book four stars, but there were sufficient issues to pull it back down. The first was the errors. Almost every popular science book has at least one, but there seemed rather more than usual. The expected one, which I couldn't blame Blundell for, was in the description of Hawking radiation, which doesn't make a lot of sense. The reason I don't blame the author is that almost all popular science descriptions of Hawking radiation don't make sense, because all of us, except working physicists, assumed Hawking described it correctly in his book. Unfortunately he didn't - in attempting to simplify a messy theoretical concept, he came up with an 'explanation' that doesn't hold water, which was then, unsurprisingly, repeated elsewhere over an over. It's unfortunate timing that there has been a lot of publicity this year for this problem.
Less forgivable were a couple of oddities. The Andromeda galaxy is described as being 6 million light years away. It is actually around 2.5 million light years. While you might argue this is order of magnitude correct, even the worst taxi driver wouldn't take you on a route that was 3.5 million light years too far. We are also told that white dwarf stars are cold. This seems to suggest a lack of understanding of stars - you can't radiate blue-white light and be cold. What might have been intended is that over time white dwarfs do cool in the way that ordinary stars don't, because there's no hydrogen fusion to heat them, but it's a very slow process and observable white dwarfs tend to be pretty toasty.
Finally, there's the matter of omissions. Most of the work on black holes is theory rather than observation, and there's a rich vein in the theory around, for instance, the concept of firewalls - whether an observer passing into a black hole would not notice the event horizon or would burn up, as some theories suggest. Other theories put the entire universe in a black hole, making the possibility of a holographic reality. It's a shame this fun speculation isn't there, both to see and be analysed, especially as so much about black holes is based on theory rather than observed data.
Not a bad book, by any means, but enough issues to raise a small flag.
November 19, 2021
Black holes....hiding in plain sight but influencing the surroundings with its unimaginable power.
July 2, 2019
خوندن یک کتاب علمی دربارهی سیاهچالهها نه تنها هالهی افسانهای بودنشون رو برام از بین نبرد بلکه اجازه داد برای مدتها در افکار خودم غوطه ور بشم.
اولین داستان کوتاهی که به انگلیسی نوشتم دربارهی سیاهچالهها بود. شخصیت مورد علاقهام در نهایت در تاریکی سیاهچاله غرق میشه. داستان تلخ تموم میشه اما برای من پر از معنیه.
تماشای فیلم Interstellar بعد از خوندن این کتاب برام خیلی جذاب بود.
در کل ممنون از برنامهی راه شیری آقای صفاریان پور که با معرفی و هدیه دادن این کتاب، اجازه داد خدا رو برای مدتها جور دیگهای بپرستم.
اولین داستان کوتاهی که به انگلیسی نوشتم دربارهی سیاهچالهها بود. شخصیت مورد علاقهام در نهایت در تاریکی سیاهچاله غرق میشه. داستان تلخ تموم میشه اما برای من پر از معنیه.
تماشای فیلم Interstellar بعد از خوندن این کتاب برام خیلی جذاب بود.
در کل ممنون از برنامهی راه شیری آقای صفاریان پور که با معرفی و هدیه دادن این کتاب، اجازه داد خدا رو برای مدتها جور دیگهای بپرستم.
February 13, 2025
3.75
If you see me staring at the wall with my headphones on listening to this book. Leave me, I’m right where I need to be.
If you see me staring at the wall with my headphones on listening to this book. Leave me, I’m right where I need to be.
March 31, 2016
One of the best VSI I've read to date. The information was presented clearly and succinctly. I learned a ton in the couple hours it took to read through it. This is one of the newest VSI that's been released, and I hope this bodes well for the newer offerings because some of the earlier books have been VERY hit or miss.
October 26, 2021
Blundell’s work is tastefully brief, appropriately informative, and full of wit which makes it enjoyable to read. Black Holes: A Very Short Introduction serves as both an informative discussion on some of the most mysterious natural phenomena theorized or observed, and a broader look into the scientific method as it applies to the edges of current theory. I would recommend the book to those interested in the evolution of scientific theory and of course, black holes.
A passage I found significant:
“Black holes therefore have the power to rewrite physics, reinvigorate our imagination and even revolutionize our technology. There are many sin-offs from black holes - way beyond their event horizons.” (p. 93)
A passage I found significant:
“Black holes therefore have the power to rewrite physics, reinvigorate our imagination and even revolutionize our technology. There are many sin-offs from black holes - way beyond their event horizons.” (p. 93)
August 8, 2024
Fascinerend. Quasars, supernova’s en super massive black holes waren me, althans qua naam, allemaal bekend uit populaire cultuur; in mijn geval, vooral uit rockmuziek. Wanneer de broers Gallagher over hun Champagne Supernova zongen, of Beck Hansen over een Black Hole, dan was dat allicht zonder astronomische ambities. De mijne zijn ook niet zo hoog — als het op rockmuziek aankomt, alvast geen vergelijk met die van Brian May, die zich na Queen op de sterrenkunde gooide. Maar dit boekje komt daar vlot aan tegemoet, met een eenvoudige en bevattelijke inleiding.
September 5, 2024
Kind of dark
Pretty good. seems aimed at kids.
This subject all by it self lends a strange kind of fatalism. Black Holes should maybe be mixed in with more astronomy / cosmology
Pretty good. seems aimed at kids.
This subject all by it self lends a strange kind of fatalism. Black Holes should maybe be mixed in with more astronomy / cosmology
Read
August 4, 2025accessible & nice introduction!
Read
October 25, 2024ــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــ
اسم الكتاب: مقدمة قصيرة جدًا الثقوب السوداء
المؤلفة: كاثرين بلاندل
عدد الصفحات: 107
ــــــــــ
ملخص:
موجز يتضمن المفاهيم الأولية لطبيعة الثقوب السوداء، وما قد يحدث إذا سقطت في واحد منها، وكيف نكتشف أشياء مثل كتلتها ومعدل دورانها، وكيف تنمو وتتقلص و غير ذلك الكثير من الأوصاف والقياسات الخاصة بها
ــــــــــــــــــــ
لم يكن ممتعًا للقراءة كمناقشة إعلامية بها الكثير من الأمثلة التي تستحضر من حلقات سابقة لم تشاهدها! كانت مقدمة سريعة لموضوع معقد جدًا، نعم لم تعتمد المؤلفة على الأسس الرياضية للملاحظات لكن لاتزال القراءة مملة!
بتجاوز بعض المعلومات الخاطئة عن النجوم، نرى الكثير من ثرثرة هوكينج التي لا معنى لها (بالمناسبة نعم أنا اكره ستيڤن هوكينج)
فشلت المؤلفة في استخدام حس الفكاهة للتخفيف من المادة، شعرت بأن المادة ثقيلة و تقنية بصورة بالغة رغم معرفتي بمعظم النظريات والاكتشافات التي تحدثت عنها! لذلك لو كنت تنوي الدخول في موضوع الثقوب السوداء، يوجد مصادر كثيرة أفضل للبدء، و في حال كانت معلوماتك متقدمة فغالبًا لن تجد أي جديد
الثقوب السوداء رغم عدم تعمقي بها اثناء دراستي الذاتية لعلم الفلك الا انها كانت اكثر إثارة للاهتمام مما تبدو عليه في هذا الكتاب
___________
اسم الكتاب: مقدمة قصيرة جدًا الثقوب السوداء
المؤلفة: كاثرين بلاندل
عدد الصفحات: 107
ــــــــــ
ملخص:
موجز يتضمن المفاهيم الأولية لطبيعة الثقوب السوداء، وما قد يحدث إذا سقطت في واحد منها، وكيف نكتشف أشياء مثل كتلتها ومعدل دورانها، وكيف تنمو وتتقلص و غير ذلك الكثير من الأوصاف والقياسات الخاصة بها
ــــــــــــــــــــ
لم يكن ممتعًا للقراءة كمناقشة إعلامية بها الكثير من الأمثلة التي تستحضر من حلقات سابقة لم تشاهدها! كانت مقدمة سريعة لموضوع معقد جدًا، نعم لم تعتمد المؤلفة على الأسس الرياضية للملاحظات لكن لاتزال القراءة مملة!
بتجاوز بعض المعلومات الخاطئة عن النجوم، نرى الكثير من ثرثرة هوكينج التي لا معنى لها (بالمناسبة نعم أنا اكره ستيڤن هوكينج)
فشلت المؤلفة في استخدام حس الفكاهة للتخفيف من المادة، شعرت بأن المادة ثقيلة و تقنية بصورة بالغة رغم معرفتي بمعظم النظريات والاكتشافات التي تحدثت عنها! لذلك لو كنت تنوي الدخول في موضوع الثقوب السوداء، يوجد مصادر كثيرة أفضل للبدء، و في حال كانت معلوماتك متقدمة فغالبًا لن تجد أي جديد
الثقوب السوداء رغم عدم تعمقي بها اثناء دراستي الذاتية لعلم الفلك الا انها كانت اكثر إثارة للاهتمام مما تبدو عليه في هذا الكتاب
___________
December 4, 2025
ik als domme jurist begrijp hier best veel van.
March 30, 2018
As I type these final sentences of this little book into my laptop, it simultaneously backs up my work onto my University server via the 802.11 WiFi protocol. This intricate and clever technology emerged directly out of a search for a particular signature, at radio wavelengths, of exploding black holes led by Ron Ekers to test a model suggested by (now Astronomer Royal, Lord) Martin Rees. Ingenious radio engineers in Australia, led by John O’Sullivan, in the course of devising interference suppression algorithms for the tricky business of detecting subtle signals from distant space realized that these could be applied to transform communication here on Earth. Black holes therefore have the power to rewrite physics, reinvigorate our imagination and even revolutionize our technology.
~ Katherine Blundel - Astrophysics Professor & Author
~ Katherine Blundel - Astrophysics Professor & Author
September 22, 2016
"Black hole systems represent the most extreme environments that we can explore, and as such probe the extremes of physics. They bring together both general relativity and quantum physics whose unification has not yet been achieved and remains very much a frontier of physics. (...) trying to understand black hole phenomena arouses fascination in scientists and many thoughtful lay people, and provides a route by which many people can be stimulated by science and motivated to learn about the almighty magnificence of the Universe around us."
March 9, 2022
Not bad - but more for the mathematician and less for the poet.
September 7, 2025
Great pocket book
October 31, 2018
Notes
| Location 870
Although photons have no mass, it turns out that they are still influenced by gravity. It is best not to think of this as due to a force, but rather that this comes about because of the curvature of spacetime.
| Location 1043
Yet again, we have no observational evidence that wormholes actually exist in our Universe.
| Location 1186
In fact, the mathematics shows that the closest that we or any other mass particle could exist on a stable circular orbit near a stationary black hole would be at a distance three times that of the Schwarzschild radius away. You have been warned.
| Location 1287
No sooner had atoms been demonstrated than a new theory of physics arose: quantum mechanics. One of the surprising consequences of this new theory was that there were fleeting moments when it seems like energy needn’t be conserved. The first law of thermodynamics, the grand and seemingly unbreakable principle of physics, insisted that at every moment and at every place there had to be a strict accountancy between energy debits and energy credits. ‘Energy must always balance!’ thunders the Cosmic Accountant.
In fact, it seems that the Universal accountancy rules are more lenient and it is possible to obtain credit. It is perfectly acceptable to borrow energy for a short period of time as long as you pay it back quickly afterwards. The amount you can borrow depends on the duration of the loan, by an amount described by the Heisenberg Uncertainty principle.
For example, even in the supposedly-empty vacuum it is possible to borrow enough energy to make a particle and anti-particle pair. These two objects can wink into existence and then after an extremely short period annihilate each other, thereby paying the energy back within the maximum allowed time limit (a time interval which is shorter the more energy is borrowed). Such a process goes on everywhere, all the time. It can even be measured!
We now understand that the vacuum is actually not empty, but is a soup of these pairs of so-called virtual particles winking in and out of existence. Thus, the vacuum is not sterile and unoccupied, but is teeming with quantum activity.
| Location 1309
All bodies at non-zero temperature emit thermal radiation as photons.
| Location 1327
Assuming the black hole isn’t receiving any other energy, this makes the rate of mass loss faster and faster until, at the end of its life, the black hole simply pops out of existence. Thus the life of a black hole ends not with a bang but with that quiet pop.
| Location 1508
Although fusion holds great hope as a future source of energy for Earth, it can only yield at most 0.7% of the available ‘’ energy.
| Location 870
Although photons have no mass, it turns out that they are still influenced by gravity. It is best not to think of this as due to a force, but rather that this comes about because of the curvature of spacetime.
| Location 1043
Yet again, we have no observational evidence that wormholes actually exist in our Universe.
| Location 1186
In fact, the mathematics shows that the closest that we or any other mass particle could exist on a stable circular orbit near a stationary black hole would be at a distance three times that of the Schwarzschild radius away. You have been warned.
| Location 1287
No sooner had atoms been demonstrated than a new theory of physics arose: quantum mechanics. One of the surprising consequences of this new theory was that there were fleeting moments when it seems like energy needn’t be conserved. The first law of thermodynamics, the grand and seemingly unbreakable principle of physics, insisted that at every moment and at every place there had to be a strict accountancy between energy debits and energy credits. ‘Energy must always balance!’ thunders the Cosmic Accountant.
In fact, it seems that the Universal accountancy rules are more lenient and it is possible to obtain credit. It is perfectly acceptable to borrow energy for a short period of time as long as you pay it back quickly afterwards. The amount you can borrow depends on the duration of the loan, by an amount described by the Heisenberg Uncertainty principle.
For example, even in the supposedly-empty vacuum it is possible to borrow enough energy to make a particle and anti-particle pair. These two objects can wink into existence and then after an extremely short period annihilate each other, thereby paying the energy back within the maximum allowed time limit (a time interval which is shorter the more energy is borrowed). Such a process goes on everywhere, all the time. It can even be measured!
We now understand that the vacuum is actually not empty, but is a soup of these pairs of so-called virtual particles winking in and out of existence. Thus, the vacuum is not sterile and unoccupied, but is teeming with quantum activity.
| Location 1309
All bodies at non-zero temperature emit thermal radiation as photons.
| Location 1327
Assuming the black hole isn’t receiving any other energy, this makes the rate of mass loss faster and faster until, at the end of its life, the black hole simply pops out of existence. Thus the life of a black hole ends not with a bang but with that quiet pop.
| Location 1508
Although fusion holds great hope as a future source of energy for Earth, it can only yield at most 0.7% of the available ‘’ energy.
July 13, 2024
“Black hole systems represent the most extreme environments that we can explore, and as such probe the extremes of physics. They bring together both general relativity and quantum physics whose unification has not yet been achieved and remains very much a frontier of physics…Black holes therefore have the power to rewrite physics, reinvigorate our imagination and even revolutionize our technology. There are many spin-offs from black holes-way beyond their event horizons” (92-93).
Don’t let the size of this book fool you. This is the third book I’ve read in the Very Short Introduction series, and it is easily the most informative and most dense. This is probably the most dense book I have read this year as I am still trying to wrap my mind around the information in the book. I have been fascinated by the existence of black holes since watching Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar (2014), and Blundell even addresses the questions I had after watching that movie concerning the function of spacetime near a black hole.
I am glad I had read a few books on Einstein before picking up this work and having a bit of a comprehension of his General and Special Theories of Relativity. Otherwise, I would have been even more lost than I already was. Still, Blundell tries to make this book and the mysterious concept of black holes accessible by framing her discussion under simple questions. Yet, you can only get so simple when discussing spacetime, event horizons, and accretions. Great book!
Don’t let the size of this book fool you. This is the third book I’ve read in the Very Short Introduction series, and it is easily the most informative and most dense. This is probably the most dense book I have read this year as I am still trying to wrap my mind around the information in the book. I have been fascinated by the existence of black holes since watching Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar (2014), and Blundell even addresses the questions I had after watching that movie concerning the function of spacetime near a black hole.
I am glad I had read a few books on Einstein before picking up this work and having a bit of a comprehension of his General and Special Theories of Relativity. Otherwise, I would have been even more lost than I already was. Still, Blundell tries to make this book and the mysterious concept of black holes accessible by framing her discussion under simple questions. Yet, you can only get so simple when discussing spacetime, event horizons, and accretions. Great book!
March 8, 2024
This book is not really worth buying. I would recommend anything that goes in to general relativity, and then an internet search on waht is the resent research in Blackholes. Honestly if you do not know anything about the subject there are better places to start, and if you know something about the subject there will be almost nothing new for you. The last chapter started to get into interesting topics but rushed past them. Unfortunately this book is also quite dated already, with the detection of gravity waves, binary black hole mergers and the EHT image of a black hole all being more recent than the book even the interesting parts seemed out of date. Given the advances in the field perhaps a revision is underway.
There were a few interesting facts scattered around, like the event horizon of spinning BHs being much closer to the singularity, while this makes sense logically unless you are directed to think about it it would not have been a first assumption.
This VSI stands out compared to others that I have read in that it tries to use humour to lighten the subject matter, definately a better approach than the arrogance of the writing in the VSI on game theory.
There were a few interesting facts scattered around, like the event horizon of spinning BHs being much closer to the singularity, while this makes sense logically unless you are directed to think about it it would not have been a first assumption.
This VSI stands out compared to others that I have read in that it tries to use humour to lighten the subject matter, definately a better approach than the arrogance of the writing in the VSI on game theory.
June 18, 2025
3.75/5
“there were fleeting moments when it seems like energy needn’t be conserved. the first law of thermodynamics, the grand and seemingly unbreakable principle of physics, insisted that at every moment and at every place there has to be a strict accountancy between energy debits and energy credits. it seems that the universal accountancy rules are more lenient.”
“black holes represent the more extreme environments that we can explore, and as such probe the extremes of physics. they bring together both general relativity and quantum physics whose unification has not yet been achieved and remains very much a frontier of physics… they have the power to rewrite physics and reinvigorate our imagination.”
this one gets TWO quotes because science is so cool and fun and poetic tbh. i learned so much im basically a master of black holes now (or at least a master of this very brief introduction).
like most scientific reads though, i found some of the chapters to be written with overly complex sentences. like why are we using quadruple negatives and ignoring the benefits of a comma?? idk but consider my imagination reinvigorated this was so much fun to read
“there were fleeting moments when it seems like energy needn’t be conserved. the first law of thermodynamics, the grand and seemingly unbreakable principle of physics, insisted that at every moment and at every place there has to be a strict accountancy between energy debits and energy credits. it seems that the universal accountancy rules are more lenient.”
“black holes represent the more extreme environments that we can explore, and as such probe the extremes of physics. they bring together both general relativity and quantum physics whose unification has not yet been achieved and remains very much a frontier of physics… they have the power to rewrite physics and reinvigorate our imagination.”
this one gets TWO quotes because science is so cool and fun and poetic tbh. i learned so much im basically a master of black holes now (or at least a master of this very brief introduction).
like most scientific reads though, i found some of the chapters to be written with overly complex sentences. like why are we using quadruple negatives and ignoring the benefits of a comma?? idk but consider my imagination reinvigorated this was so much fun to read
May 12, 2023
這本是”牛津通識課”出版的黑洞簡短介紹，用簡單明瞭的說法告訴大眾黑洞是什麼。 以往的物理科普書籍用詞艱澀，讀起來像是在讀普物，頁數又多，而這本篇幅不長，只有160頁，適合想初步釐清黑洞之謎的人。
所以，黑洞是什麼？🕳️
黑洞是太空中”重力極強”的區域，任何速度再快的東西(ex:光），都無法從黑洞內逃離。
若想用更簡單的說法，可以用「重力完全塌縮的恆星」來描述黑洞，也就是質量大的恆星耗盡燃料後會塌縮成黑洞。
🕳️如果掉進黑洞會如何呢？
這邊作者形容的很恐怖，人如果不小心滑進黑洞，整個身體會被拉的像義大利麵一樣細細長長的(可以參考看看彈力人玩具)，沒意外掉進去就會屍骨無存(存活率= 0%)😈
原因在於，重力差。
黑洞的質量很大，大質量天體的重力場為一種平方反比例場，其特色就是，這會讓物體頭和腳的重力差變得極大，因此，落入黑洞的物體下半身會因為重力差的關係，被硬生生扯斷（奪魂鋸裡好像有演過類似的片段）
距離會產生美感，就遠遠的欣賞黑洞就好，最好是在家看NASA拍的照片。
🕳️如果是黑洞掉進另一個黑洞呢？
目前已知有這種黑洞雙星存在，慢慢的，最後兩個黑洞會向彼此靠近，忽然結合成單一個黑洞，共享同一個邊界，而合併後也會放出驚人的能量，也許會比宇宙所有恆星所發出的光還要來得強烈。
/
中間的章節，探討黑洞的熱力學及如何測量黑洞的重量，因為太過物理，就跳過這部分🤪 但作者解釋的蠻清楚的，有興趣的可以慢慢研究。
所以，黑洞是什麼？🕳️
黑洞是太空中”重力極強”的區域，任何速度再快的東西(ex:光），都無法從黑洞內逃離。
若想用更簡單的說法，可以用「重力完全塌縮的恆星」來描述黑洞，也就是質量大的恆星耗盡燃料後會塌縮成黑洞。
🕳️如果掉進黑洞會如何呢？
這邊作者形容的很恐怖，人如果不小心滑進黑洞，整個身體會被拉的像義大利麵一樣細細長長的(可以參考看看彈力人玩具)，沒意外掉進去就會屍骨無存(存活率= 0%)😈
原因在於，重力差。
黑洞的質量很大，大質量天體的重力場為一種平方反比例場，其特色就是，這會讓物體頭和腳的重力差變得極大，因此，落入黑洞的物體下半身會因為重力差的關係，被硬生生扯斷（奪魂鋸裡好像有演過類似的片段）
距離會產生美感，就遠遠的欣賞黑洞就好，最好是在家看NASA拍的照片。
🕳️如果是黑洞掉進另一個黑洞呢？
目前已知有這種黑洞雙星存在，慢慢的，最後兩個黑洞會向彼此靠近，忽然結合成單一個黑洞，共享同一個邊界，而合併後也會放出驚人的能量，也許會比宇宙所有恆星所發出的光還要來得強烈。
/
中間的章節，探討黑洞的熱力學及如何測量黑洞的重量，因為太過物理，就跳過這部分🤪 但作者解釋的蠻清楚的，有興趣的可以慢慢研究。
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January 30, 2022to be completely honest, i don’t think i understood a single word past chapter 6. a lot of it was making sense for me but then it got too in depth and i just didn’t understand it anymore. it’s not the author’s fault that black holes are too complex for me, but i did feel extremely dumb the entire time i read this.
i love learning about space and this was a nice short book that did explain a lot of things to me that i otherwise never would have known or understood. so i’d say it’s a good book. hard to rate though since i truly didn’t get half of it.
i love learning about space and this was a nice short book that did explain a lot of things to me that i otherwise never would have known or understood. so i’d say it’s a good book. hard to rate though since i truly didn’t get half of it.
July 18, 2024
This is definitely a fascinating read for all modern physics enthusiasts of varying backgrounds. Blundell breaks down advanced, complicated concepts brilliantly and presents them in an accessible format. Chapter 4 “Falling into a black hole…” is especially enjoyable, where she delves into the concepts of dynamic spacetime, time dilation, and tidal forces orbiting a black hole.
Beautiful sketches and illustrations.
“There are many spin-offs from black holes - way beyond their event horizons” is a cool finish.
Beautiful sketches and illustrations.
“There are many spin-offs from black holes - way beyond their event horizons” is a cool finish.
August 25, 2020
As the title implies this is a cursory introduction to a very complicated topic but I found her explanations easy to understand. Like any writing on physics for the non-physicist it relies on description and analogy rather than the mathematical underpinnings of the observations. Although the brevity of the treatment suggests that much is skipped, the shortness allows for, indeed encourages a second read, which serves me better that a more complete treatment.
April 4, 2023
“There is no reason to believe that our Galaxy, the Milky Way, is unique in having a black hole at its center. On the contrary, it is strongly suspected that all galaxies may well have a black hole at their centers, at least the more massive ones.” (p. 59).
Title: Black Holes
Author: Katherine Blundell
Series: Oxford Very Short Introductions
Year: 2015
Genre: Nonfiction - Science
Page count: 120 pages
Date(s) read: 4/2/23
Reading journal entry #82 in 2023
April 17, 2025
Before I opened this book, I was not sure what there was going to be to say about black holes; they are black and they suck. It turns out there is quite a bit to say. I had no idea that black holes can evaporate, nor that they have no hair (really, it is a thing physicists say). This was a well-written introduction to black holes. I picked it up not expecting much, but Blundell, with her clear language explaining a complicated topic in a fascinating way, exceeded my expectations.
August 6, 2025
A good overview of black hole science but I fear it may be oversimplified in many places. For instance I know that Hawking radiation is not solely the result of one of a matter/anti-matter particle pair escaping destruction due to the other particle being just within the event horizon. That is an oversimplification. My knowledge is not good enough to tell if the other facts offered up in this little book are also lacking some of the surrounding science in the same way. Four stars.
January 2, 2024
Very informative introduction and good explanations, unfortunately there are some out of date bits of information for example: "Black holes have no hair" when in fact it has now been newly theorised that they have quantum hair. The book is nonetheless a great introduction to Black Holes and is still very relevant.
July 27, 2019
As advertised, this is a very short run—a sprint—through the topic of Black Holes. The material is presented in a very concise manner and should provide the reader with a broad overview and perhaps plenty of spin off questions they can wrestle with afterwards in more comprehensive texts.
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