A Trip to a Black Hole

15 Points Per Correct Answer - No time limit  

1. Steven and his crew of astronauts are unwittingly approaching a black hole. They have about a couple more hours before they enter the black hole and the "point of no return". At that point, what is the escape velocity, or the amount of speed required to leave a gravitational field? greater than the speed of light less than the speed of light approximately the speed of light 299,792,458 meters per second

2. Within just a few miles, Steven will be crossing the "boundary of no return". What is another name for this outer boundary of the black hole? accretion disc singularity event horizon ergosphere

3. Just before crossing the event horizon, Steven's crew thrusts away from the black hole in a futile attempt to escape. Unfortunately, their thrust is not strong enough to escape the gravitational field just outside the black hole. As a last resort, Steven's crew launches excess parts to lighten their weight. The parts speed toward the event horizon. From Steven's perspective, what will he see the parts do? become crushed into nothing immediately after entering the event horizon stop before crossing the event horizon stretch out after it enters the event horizon shrink in size before becoming invisible

4. Steven desperately attempts to radio another ship miles away for help. From start to finish (Steven's ship to the other ship), will the radio waves still have the same frequency and wavelength? Yes No

5. Running out of fuel, Steven's space shuttle is simply pulled towards the black hole. He has crossed the event horizon and knows that within a few seconds he will reach the "center" of the black hole. What is the name for the "center" of the black hole? none of these ergosphere singularity accretion disc

6. Once inside the black hole, will Steven be able to see anything outside of it? Yes No

7. Even before Steven passed the event horizon, his body would have probably been deformed. The large gravitational pulls outside of the black hole are enough to stretch Steven's body and his space shuttle. Which of the following is a name of the process where an object is deformed and stretched because of a large gravitational pull? atomic distortion gravity deformation spaghettification Planck collapse

8. Unfortunately, Steven's crew is lost to the outside world. This statement is implying that all the information with them is also lost to the outside world. Basically (theoretically speaking), the information is destroyed. However, this goes against the main beliefs of science that information cannot be destroyed. What is the name of this theoretical problem between the theories of black holes and the beliefs of science? black hole theory contradiction black hole information contradiction black hole information paradox black hole theory paradox

9. The ship that was frantically messaged has finally received Steven's desperate calls. By this time, Steven's crew is already lost. The ship radios back to a space headquarters, which try to find some way of rescuing the space shuttle. They quickly stumble upon a theory made by Roy Kerr that suggests the existence of wormholes. Which of the following properties did Roy Kerr theorize that made black holes more believable? there is a gap in the event horizon somewhere on the black hole black holes rotate like stars the singularity is actually a wormhole none of these

10. Astronomers decide to make the best out of the situation and use this opportunity to study the black hole. Stephen Hawking is one of the scientists studying the black hole. He is particularly interested in proving one of his theories on black holes, which is black holes eventually will shrink in size by emitting _________. radiation photons all of these heat