A Portal to Another Universe?
Written by Fraser Cain
In episode 56 of Astronomy Cast, I noted that hoping that a black hole will lead to another dimension is sort of like a frog thinking that a blender will take him to another realm.
Astronomy Cast listener Isaac Windham animated the sequence, just to really drive the point home…
And here's the transcript from the show, so you'll all get the reference. Thanks Isaac!
Fraser: Why do people think we might live in a black hole? That seems kind of crazy to me.
Pamela: It's a lot of science fiction. There's this idea in science fiction that you can fly into a black hole and emerge in a completely different part of our universe, in an alternate universe… and so from these fiction writings, the idea has gotten into the zeitgeist that you fly into a black hole and you fly into a different universe – which means a universe can be inside of a black hole.
The problem is real black holes just lead to death.
Fraser: I guess that's the question – it's like a frog asking if I hop into that blender, will it lead me to another universe?
Pamela: Exactly
Fraser: No, no it won't – a universe of pain.
Pamela: It will lead to death, and yeah – where death leads to is a personal question not based in facts and not addressable in this show.
Fraser: Right, so it's almost like it's become a kind of philosophical question and it goes back to that extra-dimensional conversation we had in a well-received episode we did back in the day. I guess it's kind of like it's different – could it be so different that it's not really a devastating matter crusher? Could it be a bold new universe we could explore? (Says the frog hopping into his blender.
Filed under: Blog
April 17th, 2008 at 12:29 pm
*Sigh* A frog in a blender goes splat, a human ina black whole goes pop
April 17th, 2008 at 10:17 pm
I think the reason people think that we live in a black hole is because all the light and matter in the universe can't escape the universe, just like it can't escape a black hole. Not exacly an airtight argument, but there it is. Also, all the matter in the universe isn't smushed into a singularity.
April 17th, 2008 at 10:53 pm
At one time, I read that the overall mass of the universe was about the right amount to have an event horizon at what we thought the size of the universe is. But that was old, old, news - a lot have changed since then.
However, another point. I have also read that the really big black holes (in the center of galaxies) do not have the same horrible tidal effects that the stellar black holes. Of course, if they have an accretion disk with stuff that is hot than we can measure and radiating X-rays, that makes it a bad neighbor, but a galaxtic black hole that has sucked all of the available mass maybe a place a future spacecraft could cross the event horizon safely.
But never come back. Better have a nice closed self sustaining ecosystem!
But
April 17th, 2008 at 10:54 pm
I wish I could edit those typos. Sorry. I am done for the night.
April 18th, 2008 at 12:33 am
I thought the idea was simply that what one would see inside a black hole resembles the known universe in that it has an event horizon and came from a singularity. I don't think anyone really expects to be able to travel through a black hole - rather that we already exist in one.
April 18th, 2008 at 5:25 am
[quote]Also, all the matter in the universe isn't smushed into a singularity.[/quote]
Not sure if quotes work here, but anyway I read that and thought "But it was"
lol Big bang. what if black holes eventually suck everything up, and after a really long time suck up each other too, and then get so massive they explode creating the universe.
I have no idea what I'm taking about though, just a cool idea in my head.
April 19th, 2008 at 7:37 am
aren't we now confusing blackholes with wormholes? those are two different things or am i wrong on this?
August 25th, 2008 at 5:34 pm
The only real question I have about black holes is: How do we know nothing is there? If nothing can come out of one, we automatically assume that that's the end of it in a black hole. So, if we have never actually been in a black hole, how do we know that it doesn't lead anywhere? Until we go into a black hole ourselves., we will never truly know, and I think that it is possible for a black hole to take you elsewhere in the universe or even to an alternate one, whether it be subconscious or not.
September 28th, 2008 at 12:22 pm
Good question.only someone who ever survive's a disaster like that will live to tell the most dnagerous story in the universe
I belive that we should not fear of a black hole .WHY? Thats easy .because WE ALL LIVE IN A BLACK HOLE. The universe is not a black hole but the galaxy is a black hole .Have you ever seen the sun ligh move to pluto .Have you ever seen a planet move NO thats because the black hole
September 28th, 2008 at 12:24 pm
Andrew:well you are right most scientists belive that the galaxy was formed by a big black hole that had a big Gigant planet bigger than anything even the universe the black hole and the planet exploded creating starts galaxys and for some reasons blood