The theory of relativity and black holes in space

Black holes in space are one of the most amazing phenomena of the universe, known to modern science. Their existence was predicted by Albert Einstein in the first quarter of the 20th century.

The theory of relativity, the connection of space and time

Even at the end of the XIX century, physics was considered to be a practically exhausted science. It seemed to scientists that all the riddles of a natural nature were solved, and the device of the surrounding The world is about to be fully explained within the framework of the existing notions of science. As it turned out, the Universe presented astonishingly unexpected news for physicists. Young at that time, science - thermodynamics - discovered that the spread of light is not due to the classical laws of Newtonian mechanics. This task has occupied the minds of scientists around the world. To solve it it was possible to the young employee of a patent bureau from Switzerland. His name was Albert Einstein. The picture of the world he created - the theory of relativity - completely turned the idea of mankind about the structure of the universe. Among all the other consequences of the theory of relativity, an inseparable link between space and time was a remarkable conclusion. Without going into details, we can say that the rate of time flow for a particular person (or any object - the frame of reference) is closely related to the speed of movement in space. At the available daily speeds, this is completely invisible. However, if you accelerate the body to a speed close to the speed of light, miracles will begin - the time will literally slow down. This idea was repeatedly realized in the science fiction of the twentieth century.

Curvature of space and time, black holes in space

Another interesting conclusion of Einstein was the fact that both space and time can literally be warped by the forces of gravity. This means that time flows more slowly not only for a fast moving object, but also for very massive bodies. And the closer to him, the more time slows down.

However paradoxical it may sound, but on the first floor of the skyscraper time is more measured than on the twentieth. But again, because of the relatively small space dimensions of the Earth, we never notice it. The difference is a millionth of a second. So there is a curvature of space. It simply bends in the direction of a massive body, literally pulling it to itself with its gravity. It already follows from this fact that black holes in space can exist. The possibility of such bodies was supposed even before the discovery of the theory of relativity by a scientist of the 18th century by John Mitchell. However, the first to prove this on the basis of Einstein's equations was another German scientist, Karl Schwarzschild.

The first practical confirmation of Einstein's theory of space curvature was confirmed back in 1919, when the English astronomer Arthur Eddington confirmed that the light of distant stars passing near the Sun really curved them. It is such a massive body that it does not just curve all the bodies and light rays passing by, but also draws them to itself. On Earth, to send the body into space, it is necessary to give it a speed of 11.2 km per second. This is called the runaway speed. But on a heavier planet, such as Jupiter, it would take a lot of speed and, accordingly, a lot of energy. And imagine that black holes in space are so dense objects that their escape velocity is above 300 thousand km / sec. This means that the light can not overcome them attraction. And if a black hole in space does not release light, then nothing can escape from it. Since, according to the theory of relativity, the speed of light is the greatest possible speed in nature.

A modern look into space. Black holes on maps of astrophysicists

Today, scientists have discovered more than a thousand objects in the starry sky, which are considered black holes. The difficulty of their precise definition is that these objects can not be observed directly. They can be seen only by the behavior of neighboring celestial bodies. So, in the center of most galaxies there are huge masses of black holes around which billions of stars revolve. Including our Milky Way.