1 00:00:08,640 --> 00:00:11,400 Speaker 1: Hey, Daniel, have we gotten any exciting messages in our 2 00:00:11,480 --> 00:00:15,000 Speaker 1: podcast mailbox recently? Oh? Yeah, I gotta say it's kind 3 00:00:15,000 --> 00:00:17,880 Speaker 1: of refreshing because now the questions in the inbox are 4 00:00:17,960 --> 00:00:22,360 Speaker 1: mostly back to asking science questions. Back to asking science questions. 5 00:00:22,360 --> 00:00:25,600 Speaker 1: What do you mean have they not always been about science? Well, 6 00:00:25,680 --> 00:00:28,159 Speaker 1: you know, until a couple of weeks ago, most of 7 00:00:28,160 --> 00:00:32,000 Speaker 1: the questions we're asking something else. Here's an example. Hi, 8 00:00:32,120 --> 00:00:34,479 Speaker 1: Daniel Horror. Hey, this is Oliver and I am a 9 00:00:34,560 --> 00:00:39,720 Speaker 1: very important question about the universe. Where is Horgey? Thanks? 10 00:00:39,880 --> 00:00:44,920 Speaker 1: I love your show. Oh that's so cute. Thanks. Thanks 11 00:00:44,960 --> 00:00:49,880 Speaker 1: for the concern, Oliver. But do you prefer science questions? Daniel? 12 00:00:50,400 --> 00:00:53,400 Speaker 1: Science questions have answers, you know, science questions or something. 13 00:00:53,440 --> 00:00:55,960 Speaker 1: I'm supposed to be an expert about. Where Jorge is 14 00:00:56,360 --> 00:01:15,720 Speaker 1: nobody knows. Hi. I'm or Hamm, a cartoonists and the 15 00:01:15,720 --> 00:01:19,280 Speaker 1: creator of peach d Comics. Hi. I'm Daniel Whitson. I'm 16 00:01:19,319 --> 00:01:23,319 Speaker 1: a particle physicist and an avid answer of listener questions. 17 00:01:23,600 --> 00:01:26,759 Speaker 1: Welcome to our podcast, Daniel and Jorge Explain the Universe, 18 00:01:26,920 --> 00:01:30,120 Speaker 1: a production of I Heart Radio. Yeah, this is our 19 00:01:30,120 --> 00:01:34,000 Speaker 1: podcast where we talk about the great Big Unknown questions 20 00:01:34,000 --> 00:01:37,080 Speaker 1: of the universe, what's going on out there? And often 21 00:01:37,120 --> 00:01:39,560 Speaker 1: we deal with the questions at the forefront of science. 22 00:01:39,680 --> 00:01:43,000 Speaker 1: What are scientists thinking, what are they trying to figure out? Zooming? 23 00:01:43,040 --> 00:01:45,160 Speaker 1: You are all around the universe to take you to 24 00:01:45,160 --> 00:01:47,440 Speaker 1: the forefront of science and explain it to you. But 25 00:01:47,600 --> 00:01:50,360 Speaker 1: sometimes we also like to answer questions not just in 26 00:01:50,400 --> 00:01:52,960 Speaker 1: the minds of scientists, but in the minds of everybody 27 00:01:53,000 --> 00:01:55,880 Speaker 1: out there. Sometimes I bet some of the great questions 28 00:01:55,880 --> 00:01:58,800 Speaker 1: and science come from just regular people wondering about this 29 00:01:58,880 --> 00:02:01,320 Speaker 1: kind of stuff. Hey, socientists are regular people? Are you 30 00:02:01,320 --> 00:02:06,120 Speaker 1: suggesting we're not? What what you think? I put on 31 00:02:06,120 --> 00:02:07,640 Speaker 1: that lab code and all of a sudden I become 32 00:02:07,680 --> 00:02:12,480 Speaker 1: somebody else. Yeah, you become irregular. I'm going to take 33 00:02:12,520 --> 00:02:16,720 Speaker 1: that in the best way possible. But I think you're right. 34 00:02:16,760 --> 00:02:18,640 Speaker 1: I agree with you. I think that a lot of 35 00:02:18,680 --> 00:02:20,760 Speaker 1: the questions that are at the forefront of science, the 36 00:02:20,840 --> 00:02:23,200 Speaker 1: questions that are burning, that are deep, that are fascinating, 37 00:02:23,440 --> 00:02:26,720 Speaker 1: our questions that everybody has because everybody wants to know 38 00:02:26,800 --> 00:02:29,280 Speaker 1: the answer to questions about the universe. People wonder how 39 00:02:29,280 --> 00:02:31,560 Speaker 1: do things work, and how do they start? And could 40 00:02:31,600 --> 00:02:33,480 Speaker 1: we blow up planets? And you know, these are basic 41 00:02:33,520 --> 00:02:35,560 Speaker 1: questions everybody wants to know the answer to. Yes, So 42 00:02:35,639 --> 00:02:37,760 Speaker 1: to the on the episode. This will be I think 43 00:02:38,000 --> 00:02:42,440 Speaker 1: maybe episode seven in our series of answering listener questions. 44 00:02:42,960 --> 00:02:46,680 Speaker 1: So today we have some really interesting questions here about 45 00:02:46,800 --> 00:02:51,280 Speaker 1: what happens when black holes are born and whether or 46 00:02:51,320 --> 00:02:54,880 Speaker 1: not we can build something out of a nineteen six movie. 47 00:02:56,080 --> 00:02:58,560 Speaker 1: That's right, and we love answering listener questions. If you 48 00:02:58,639 --> 00:03:01,359 Speaker 1: have a question about the universe you'd like us to answer, 49 00:03:01,440 --> 00:03:03,840 Speaker 1: please send it to us at questions at Daniel and 50 00:03:03,919 --> 00:03:06,880 Speaker 1: Jorge dot com. We right back to every email, hopefully 51 00:03:06,880 --> 00:03:09,600 Speaker 1: with an insiphle answer, and sometimes we even feature those 52 00:03:09,680 --> 00:03:12,840 Speaker 1: questions here on the podcast. Yeah, we answered everything except 53 00:03:12,919 --> 00:03:16,239 Speaker 1: where I am that one? Oh No, I right back, 54 00:03:16,240 --> 00:03:19,519 Speaker 1: and I just say, I don't know. I just work 55 00:03:19,600 --> 00:03:24,960 Speaker 1: with this guy like three different projects. How would I know? Yeah, 56 00:03:25,000 --> 00:03:27,359 Speaker 1: that's basically it. Yeah, So today on the podcast we'll 57 00:03:27,360 --> 00:03:36,600 Speaker 1: be answering listener questions, and we have what happens at 58 00:03:36,640 --> 00:03:38,960 Speaker 1: the moment a black hole is made? Can we build 59 00:03:39,040 --> 00:03:41,960 Speaker 1: a death star? Those are the burning questions in our 60 00:03:42,000 --> 00:03:45,080 Speaker 1: listeners minds, and I just want to encourage you one 61 00:03:45,120 --> 00:03:47,680 Speaker 1: more time to send us to your questions. Sometimes I 62 00:03:47,720 --> 00:03:49,720 Speaker 1: know the answer run off the bat, but sometimes I 63 00:03:49,760 --> 00:03:51,960 Speaker 1: have to go do a little bit of research. Talk 64 00:03:52,080 --> 00:03:54,720 Speaker 1: to an expert on black holes, talk to an expert 65 00:03:54,720 --> 00:03:57,520 Speaker 1: about death stars, and that's a lot of fun. So 66 00:03:57,600 --> 00:04:00,640 Speaker 1: please continue to send in your questions, not just because 67 00:04:00,640 --> 00:04:02,360 Speaker 1: it sends me down rabbit holes where I get to 68 00:04:02,440 --> 00:04:05,000 Speaker 1: learn about crazy stuff, but also because if you have 69 00:04:05,040 --> 00:04:08,720 Speaker 1: a question about the universe, probably somebody else does too. Wait, Dinel, 70 00:04:08,760 --> 00:04:10,680 Speaker 1: I have two questions just from what you just said. 71 00:04:10,720 --> 00:04:12,600 Speaker 1: First of all, you're you're not an expert at at 72 00:04:12,680 --> 00:04:16,080 Speaker 1: everything in the universe. I'm an expert at putting on 73 00:04:16,080 --> 00:04:19,640 Speaker 1: a lab coat and sounding like an expert who gave 74 00:04:19,640 --> 00:04:23,400 Speaker 1: you a microphone? What? And the second question is that 75 00:04:23,480 --> 00:04:26,680 Speaker 1: there's actually an expert on death stars out there in 76 00:04:26,800 --> 00:04:31,680 Speaker 1: your department or in some university. Yes, absolutely, they are experts. 77 00:04:31,720 --> 00:04:35,000 Speaker 1: In astro industry. You know you're gonna build something really big. 78 00:04:35,279 --> 00:04:36,920 Speaker 1: You're not going to assemble it on the surface of 79 00:04:36,920 --> 00:04:38,880 Speaker 1: the Earth. You're gonna have to build it in space. 80 00:04:38,960 --> 00:04:43,240 Speaker 1: And surprisingly people have thought about that astro engineering. Yeah, 81 00:04:43,240 --> 00:04:46,960 Speaker 1: astro engineering. Can you study that in college? Can I 82 00:04:46,960 --> 00:04:52,279 Speaker 1: study that in college? Not today, not tomorrow, but coming 83 00:04:52,360 --> 00:04:54,919 Speaker 1: soon to a rebel planet near you. Maybe we should 84 00:04:54,920 --> 00:04:56,920 Speaker 1: take a page from our president and just call it 85 00:04:57,040 --> 00:05:00,400 Speaker 1: a space engineer Space force engineering US spence much time 86 00:05:00,400 --> 00:05:02,680 Speaker 1: wondering if you could build a death star. You never 87 00:05:02,720 --> 00:05:04,920 Speaker 1: thought to ask if you should. Yeah, but we love 88 00:05:04,960 --> 00:05:07,960 Speaker 1: getting questions from listeners, and so today the first question 89 00:05:08,000 --> 00:05:10,719 Speaker 1: we have is from Glenn, who is from Cape Town, 90 00:05:10,839 --> 00:05:14,320 Speaker 1: South Africa. And Glenn has a pretty interesting question which 91 00:05:14,400 --> 00:05:16,880 Speaker 1: I don't think we've ever covered here, right, No, we 92 00:05:17,000 --> 00:05:19,560 Speaker 1: certainly have not. We've talked a lot about black holes, 93 00:05:19,600 --> 00:05:23,760 Speaker 1: but we've never really asked or answered this specific question. Yeah, so, 94 00:05:23,880 --> 00:05:26,000 Speaker 1: and um, it's a pretty cool question. And so here 95 00:05:26,080 --> 00:05:30,240 Speaker 1: is Glenn from Cape Town, South Africa. Hi, Daniel and Joge. 96 00:05:30,520 --> 00:05:33,200 Speaker 1: This is Glenn Edwards and I'm from Cape Town, South Africa. 97 00:05:34,040 --> 00:05:36,600 Speaker 1: I'm pretty interested in all things space related and I've 98 00:05:36,600 --> 00:05:39,360 Speaker 1: been really enjoying your podcasts. I've heard a lot of 99 00:05:39,760 --> 00:05:42,240 Speaker 1: different discussions about black holes, so I have a very 100 00:05:42,240 --> 00:05:45,280 Speaker 1: basic understanding about the factors that lead up to its formation. 101 00:05:46,080 --> 00:05:48,400 Speaker 1: One thing, however, that I've never heard about, is the 102 00:05:48,440 --> 00:05:51,840 Speaker 1: actual mechanics of the moment of black hole begins when 103 00:05:51,960 --> 00:05:55,159 Speaker 1: extremely dense cosmic object collapses into a black hole. Is 104 00:05:55,200 --> 00:05:58,479 Speaker 1: this an instantaneous event or something that happens over cosmic 105 00:05:58,520 --> 00:06:01,599 Speaker 1: time frames? If you are observing this object at the 106 00:06:01,600 --> 00:06:04,080 Speaker 1: moment of collapse, would it suddenly go out like a light? 107 00:06:05,160 --> 00:06:08,200 Speaker 1: Have any black hole formation has ever been observed? Would 108 00:06:08,200 --> 00:06:13,040 Speaker 1: anything within the Schwartz Child radius suddenly disappear? That's a 109 00:06:13,040 --> 00:06:15,360 Speaker 1: lot to unpeck, but I'm looking forward to hearing your 110 00:06:15,480 --> 00:06:18,719 Speaker 1: entertaining answers. All Right, Basically, I think the question is 111 00:06:18,760 --> 00:06:22,320 Speaker 1: what does the baby black hole look like? For or 112 00:06:22,360 --> 00:06:25,200 Speaker 1: maybe it's more like a bird's in the best question 113 00:06:25,200 --> 00:06:27,640 Speaker 1: about black hole? Yeah, I think he wants to see 114 00:06:27,880 --> 00:06:30,360 Speaker 1: the black hole pop out. He's curious about that transition 115 00:06:30,760 --> 00:06:33,040 Speaker 1: from not black hole to black hole? What does that 116 00:06:33,080 --> 00:06:35,320 Speaker 1: look like? How does it happen? This kind of stuff, Yeah, 117 00:06:35,360 --> 00:06:37,880 Speaker 1: because you know, we have sort of pictures now of 118 00:06:37,960 --> 00:06:40,280 Speaker 1: what a black hole, an adult black hole looks like, 119 00:06:40,720 --> 00:06:43,560 Speaker 1: but we don't know kind of like the process of 120 00:06:43,600 --> 00:06:46,840 Speaker 1: making a black hole. Yeah, really a fascinating question. How 121 00:06:46,880 --> 00:06:48,680 Speaker 1: does that happen, How fast does it happen? What would 122 00:06:48,720 --> 00:06:51,719 Speaker 1: it look like if you were there watching? This really 123 00:06:51,760 --> 00:06:53,680 Speaker 1: goes to the heart of what it's like to be 124 00:06:53,720 --> 00:06:55,560 Speaker 1: a black hole and how the black hole has made 125 00:06:55,839 --> 00:06:57,839 Speaker 1: So I thought this was a really fascinating question and 126 00:06:57,839 --> 00:07:00,000 Speaker 1: actually went down and spent like an hour of talking 127 00:07:00,120 --> 00:07:02,839 Speaker 1: to an expert in my department, Aaron Barth, who's an 128 00:07:02,839 --> 00:07:06,279 Speaker 1: expert in black holes supermassive and not supermassive about exactly 129 00:07:06,279 --> 00:07:08,359 Speaker 1: what this would look like. Super fun. Thank you Glenn 130 00:07:08,400 --> 00:07:10,800 Speaker 1: for this excellent question. That's the question, And it's like, 131 00:07:10,840 --> 00:07:13,240 Speaker 1: if you were out in space watching the birth of 132 00:07:13,280 --> 00:07:16,520 Speaker 1: a black hole, what would you see? Would you would 133 00:07:16,520 --> 00:07:19,360 Speaker 1: you even survive the experience? I guess this is my 134 00:07:19,480 --> 00:07:22,240 Speaker 1: main question. Do we want to see a black hole 135 00:07:22,560 --> 00:07:24,600 Speaker 1: get born? Well, maybe if you were watching it from 136 00:07:24,640 --> 00:07:26,720 Speaker 1: the viewing portal of a death star and had like, 137 00:07:26,880 --> 00:07:29,120 Speaker 1: you know, a lot of protection, then you could survive 138 00:07:29,120 --> 00:07:31,400 Speaker 1: at force field a force field. But I think the 139 00:07:31,760 --> 00:07:34,360 Speaker 1: first thing to understand is sort of the time scale 140 00:07:34,400 --> 00:07:37,280 Speaker 1: of the process, Like how rapidly does a black hole 141 00:07:37,320 --> 00:07:39,720 Speaker 1: get formed? Like how quickly do you go from star 142 00:07:39,840 --> 00:07:43,679 Speaker 1: to black hole? Is it like geological cosmological time scales 143 00:07:43,680 --> 00:07:45,800 Speaker 1: of hundreds of millions of years or does it happen 144 00:07:45,840 --> 00:07:48,040 Speaker 1: really fast? I think that was the first question that 145 00:07:48,040 --> 00:07:51,880 Speaker 1: popped into my head when I read this. My question is, um, 146 00:07:51,960 --> 00:07:55,640 Speaker 1: what reminds me what a black hole is? Or like, 147 00:07:55,680 --> 00:07:58,200 Speaker 1: what's a technical definition so that we know at what 148 00:07:58,360 --> 00:08:01,920 Speaker 1: point it is a black hole? Right? Good point? So 149 00:08:02,080 --> 00:08:05,600 Speaker 1: a black hole is any location in the universe where 150 00:08:05,600 --> 00:08:10,080 Speaker 1: gravity is so strong that nothing can escape its gravitational field, 151 00:08:10,640 --> 00:08:13,720 Speaker 1: and an area of volume of space or like a point, 152 00:08:14,200 --> 00:08:17,320 Speaker 1: or it's a it's a volume of space, it's like 153 00:08:17,760 --> 00:08:20,600 Speaker 1: a sphere, and we don't know what's inside the sphere. 154 00:08:20,640 --> 00:08:22,680 Speaker 1: We don't know how the matter is distributed. A lot 155 00:08:22,680 --> 00:08:24,480 Speaker 1: of people have their an image in their mind of 156 00:08:24,680 --> 00:08:28,520 Speaker 1: a point like a singularity, a super dense point inside 157 00:08:28,560 --> 00:08:31,120 Speaker 1: the black hole that has so much mass that the 158 00:08:31,160 --> 00:08:34,880 Speaker 1: gravity around it is really strong. And that's the picture 159 00:08:34,920 --> 00:08:37,880 Speaker 1: you have from general relativity. And we know the general 160 00:08:37,920 --> 00:08:40,199 Speaker 1: relativity is a great theory. The university describes a lot 161 00:08:40,200 --> 00:08:43,280 Speaker 1: of things correctly. We don't know that it's correctly describing 162 00:08:43,320 --> 00:08:45,720 Speaker 1: what's happening inside a black hole, but it's it's a 163 00:08:45,720 --> 00:08:48,760 Speaker 1: good starting point. And and the structure there is you 164 00:08:48,800 --> 00:08:52,000 Speaker 1: have a dense dot and the singularity huge amount of mass, 165 00:08:52,440 --> 00:08:55,280 Speaker 1: and then at some radius, some distance from the black 166 00:08:55,280 --> 00:08:58,760 Speaker 1: hole or closer, the gravity is too strong for anything 167 00:08:58,800 --> 00:09:00,800 Speaker 1: to escape, and that's what we sort of called the 168 00:09:00,800 --> 00:09:03,760 Speaker 1: surface the black hole. It's a three D hole, right, 169 00:09:03,880 --> 00:09:07,840 Speaker 1: like a it's like a sphere, but it's a whole. Yeah, 170 00:09:08,000 --> 00:09:09,760 Speaker 1: in space. I think if it's sort of like a 171 00:09:10,080 --> 00:09:12,120 Speaker 1: like a trap in space, like once you get in there, 172 00:09:12,160 --> 00:09:14,880 Speaker 1: you can't get out. That space is sort of one directional, 173 00:09:15,240 --> 00:09:16,600 Speaker 1: Like you get in there and all you can do 174 00:09:16,679 --> 00:09:18,680 Speaker 1: is move closer to the center of the black hole. 175 00:09:18,880 --> 00:09:22,240 Speaker 1: You can't ever move further from the center. Um in 176 00:09:22,320 --> 00:09:24,640 Speaker 1: some sense, like you just call it a trap trap hole. 177 00:09:26,280 --> 00:09:31,000 Speaker 1: I think that was vetoed is not safe to work um. 178 00:09:31,040 --> 00:09:33,440 Speaker 1: And one useful thing to remember is that it's not 179 00:09:33,520 --> 00:09:37,280 Speaker 1: like gravity is pulling on photons and slowing them down, 180 00:09:37,320 --> 00:09:40,480 Speaker 1: but eventually they will escape. They cannot escape, and not 181 00:09:40,559 --> 00:09:42,679 Speaker 1: just because gravity is so strong, but because gravity is 182 00:09:42,679 --> 00:09:46,000 Speaker 1: actually bent the space. You know, there's there's no path 183 00:09:46,360 --> 00:09:49,839 Speaker 1: outside the black hole. Like every direction you move you're 184 00:09:49,840 --> 00:09:52,920 Speaker 1: inside the black hole takes you closer because space is 185 00:09:52,960 --> 00:09:55,600 Speaker 1: bent in a really weird way inside the black hole. 186 00:09:55,800 --> 00:09:57,920 Speaker 1: So it's not like it it grabs things and holds 187 00:09:57,960 --> 00:10:00,400 Speaker 1: them with some force. It's like it's like it's really 188 00:10:00,480 --> 00:10:02,200 Speaker 1: kind of like a pocket in space. It's like a 189 00:10:02,280 --> 00:10:05,320 Speaker 1: hole in space itself. Like you once you go in there, 190 00:10:05,880 --> 00:10:08,839 Speaker 1: you're trapped in It's in your own little space, that's right. 191 00:10:09,240 --> 00:10:11,200 Speaker 1: And it's not like quicksand right where it's just like 192 00:10:11,240 --> 00:10:13,120 Speaker 1: slows you down. It's hard to climb out, but if 193 00:10:13,120 --> 00:10:15,600 Speaker 1: you try really really hard or whatever, um there's just 194 00:10:15,679 --> 00:10:17,880 Speaker 1: no way to do it. And so it's like a trap. 195 00:10:17,880 --> 00:10:20,040 Speaker 1: It's like a hole in space. And and the point 196 00:10:20,080 --> 00:10:22,480 Speaker 1: I wanted to make earlier was that we know this 197 00:10:22,640 --> 00:10:24,880 Speaker 1: surface exists, We know the black holes are real, and 198 00:10:24,920 --> 00:10:27,960 Speaker 1: that there's this event horizon the surface beyond which if 199 00:10:27,960 --> 00:10:30,560 Speaker 1: you pass you can never escape. We don't know what's 200 00:10:30,559 --> 00:10:33,000 Speaker 1: going on inside there, because we don't really know if 201 00:10:33,040 --> 00:10:36,720 Speaker 1: general relativity is correct at these really really strong gravitational fields, 202 00:10:36,720 --> 00:10:40,080 Speaker 1: and quantum mechanics says it's probably wrong, but we've never 203 00:10:40,160 --> 00:10:42,160 Speaker 1: looked inside a black hole, so we can't quite tell. 204 00:10:42,480 --> 00:10:44,320 Speaker 1: But it is um, like you said, it does have 205 00:10:44,360 --> 00:10:47,120 Speaker 1: sort of a surface reboundary, and so it's a it's 206 00:10:47,120 --> 00:10:49,520 Speaker 1: a thing, And so I guess the question is like, 207 00:10:49,559 --> 00:10:52,440 Speaker 1: how does that thing get formed? Does it started really 208 00:10:52,480 --> 00:10:56,239 Speaker 1: small and then grow or does it immediately pop into existence? 209 00:10:56,440 --> 00:10:58,720 Speaker 1: You just go online to Amazon and you enter black 210 00:10:58,760 --> 00:11:01,080 Speaker 1: hole and you press by now and boom, there's your 211 00:11:01,080 --> 00:11:04,720 Speaker 1: black hole. There's a buy now button for the universe 212 00:11:04,800 --> 00:11:08,440 Speaker 1: only for Prime Now I get black hole Prime delivery. Um, 213 00:11:08,480 --> 00:11:11,040 Speaker 1: it's it's quantum Amazon. I was actually thinking about that 214 00:11:11,080 --> 00:11:15,440 Speaker 1: because the gravitational information travels at a finite speed. Right. 215 00:11:15,640 --> 00:11:19,199 Speaker 1: If you create a black hole as a singularity, then 216 00:11:19,200 --> 00:11:22,440 Speaker 1: the space around it doesn't know about the black hole instantly, 217 00:11:22,480 --> 00:11:24,760 Speaker 1: so it takes like a moment for the black hole 218 00:11:24,800 --> 00:11:28,600 Speaker 1: the sphere to sort of be created and to travel 219 00:11:28,640 --> 00:11:30,640 Speaker 1: out to the eventual event horizon. There's like a huge 220 00:11:30,679 --> 00:11:33,240 Speaker 1: gravitational wave that would be created if you were able 221 00:11:33,280 --> 00:11:36,880 Speaker 1: to Amazon prime singularity into existence. Yeah, the question is 222 00:11:37,080 --> 00:11:40,319 Speaker 1: if you instantly pop a singularity out into space, Um, 223 00:11:40,600 --> 00:11:43,319 Speaker 1: what happens? Right, Like you're saying, it may not. It 224 00:11:43,400 --> 00:11:46,720 Speaker 1: might propagate out slowly, or it might um who knows, right, 225 00:11:46,760 --> 00:11:48,800 Speaker 1: because it's bending space at the same time. So it's 226 00:11:48,880 --> 00:11:50,880 Speaker 1: it's kind of weird, right. Yeah. If you were a 227 00:11:50,880 --> 00:11:53,840 Speaker 1: photon and you're flying in some direction and somebody creates 228 00:11:53,840 --> 00:11:57,440 Speaker 1: a black hole right behind you, in theory, you could 229 00:11:57,520 --> 00:12:00,600 Speaker 1: survive even if you're right next to that singular already 230 00:12:00,640 --> 00:12:04,120 Speaker 1: because you could like travel faster than the gravitational waves 231 00:12:04,160 --> 00:12:06,360 Speaker 1: that are propagatting out from the singularity to sort of 232 00:12:06,520 --> 00:12:10,439 Speaker 1: inform the rest of the universe that singularity have been created. 233 00:12:10,480 --> 00:12:14,520 Speaker 1: Because remember, gravitational information is not instantaneous. The Sun disappeared, 234 00:12:14,720 --> 00:12:17,240 Speaker 1: for example, the Earth would keep moving in its orbit 235 00:12:17,280 --> 00:12:20,840 Speaker 1: for eight minutes until it got updated. Right, It's like 236 00:12:20,880 --> 00:12:23,160 Speaker 1: that scene in every other action movie where there's an 237 00:12:23,200 --> 00:12:25,640 Speaker 1: explosion or a tidal wave or something and the heroes 238 00:12:25,679 --> 00:12:28,119 Speaker 1: are in their plane or a car just barely outrunning 239 00:12:29,960 --> 00:12:33,800 Speaker 1: the shock wave. No no, no, no, exactly they die 240 00:12:33,840 --> 00:12:36,000 Speaker 1: from the burning building. But that's not the way black 241 00:12:36,000 --> 00:12:38,199 Speaker 1: holes are actually made in our universe. It's just sort 242 00:12:38,240 --> 00:12:40,959 Speaker 1: of like the extreme example, black holes come from huge 243 00:12:41,000 --> 00:12:43,600 Speaker 1: masses that already exist. Okay, so let's step through that 244 00:12:43,720 --> 00:12:47,520 Speaker 1: how exactly black holes are made and what maybe actually 245 00:12:47,559 --> 00:12:50,240 Speaker 1: happens when they get made. But first let's take a 246 00:12:50,320 --> 00:13:05,480 Speaker 1: quick break. Okay, Daniel, So how do I make a 247 00:13:05,559 --> 00:13:08,679 Speaker 1: black hole? What's the what's the recipe here? It's a 248 00:13:08,840 --> 00:13:11,920 Speaker 1: huge blob of stuff and that's about it. Get a 249 00:13:12,000 --> 00:13:17,880 Speaker 1: huge blob tablespoons of the zillion tablespoons of anything and 250 00:13:17,920 --> 00:13:20,200 Speaker 1: then mix. That's the recipe. You don't even have to mix. 251 00:13:20,240 --> 00:13:22,760 Speaker 1: You just wait, you know, preheat the oven to two 252 00:13:22,760 --> 00:13:25,559 Speaker 1: point seven three degrees kelvin. That's a temperature of the universe. 253 00:13:25,600 --> 00:13:28,640 Speaker 1: And then just wait hundreds of millions of years. Well, 254 00:13:28,679 --> 00:13:31,040 Speaker 1: you kind of have to um make a dough in 255 00:13:31,120 --> 00:13:32,800 Speaker 1: no way, right, You have to get it on the 256 00:13:33,160 --> 00:13:35,320 Speaker 1: in a certain amount of space. Like, you don't just 257 00:13:35,360 --> 00:13:37,080 Speaker 1: need a lot of stuff. You need a lot of 258 00:13:37,080 --> 00:13:39,719 Speaker 1: stuff in a small amount of space. Yeah, And that's 259 00:13:39,720 --> 00:13:42,000 Speaker 1: what gravity will do for you. Given enough time, gravity 260 00:13:42,000 --> 00:13:44,960 Speaker 1: will pull together a huge blob of gas and squeeze 261 00:13:45,000 --> 00:13:47,600 Speaker 1: it and eventually squeeze it so much that becomes a 262 00:13:47,640 --> 00:13:50,520 Speaker 1: star if it's big enough, and that star will burn. 263 00:13:51,160 --> 00:13:53,960 Speaker 1: And the reason it doesn't just immediately compress it into 264 00:13:53,960 --> 00:13:56,440 Speaker 1: a black hole is because of the burning. The burning 265 00:13:56,480 --> 00:13:59,480 Speaker 1: creates a lot of energy. It's like radiation that's pushing out, 266 00:13:59,720 --> 00:14:02,760 Speaker 1: so keeps it from collapsing anymore. Like you might wonder 267 00:14:02,960 --> 00:14:05,280 Speaker 1: why doesn't every blob of gas just immediately turn into 268 00:14:05,280 --> 00:14:07,920 Speaker 1: a black hole, It's because there's some force outwards and 269 00:14:07,960 --> 00:14:10,680 Speaker 1: that comes from this fusion. It's burning, and so it's 270 00:14:10,760 --> 00:14:14,080 Speaker 1: kind of diffusing the stuff out, making it fluffy, not 271 00:14:14,240 --> 00:14:18,400 Speaker 1: concentrated exactly. It's a constantly exploding fusion bomb, so it's 272 00:14:18,440 --> 00:14:21,560 Speaker 1: throwing everything out really hard. At the same time gravity 273 00:14:21,640 --> 00:14:24,120 Speaker 1: is pulling in, so it's a delicate balance. A star, 274 00:14:24,440 --> 00:14:28,040 Speaker 1: it's this exploding bomb that's trapped by its own gravitational power, 275 00:14:28,640 --> 00:14:31,120 Speaker 1: and that goes on for hundreds of millions of years, 276 00:14:31,160 --> 00:14:33,920 Speaker 1: depending precisely on the size of the star, etcetera, while 277 00:14:33,920 --> 00:14:36,400 Speaker 1: it burns all that fuel. Okay, so then how does 278 00:14:36,440 --> 00:14:38,840 Speaker 1: a black hole get formed or how do what are 279 00:14:38,880 --> 00:14:42,360 Speaker 1: the different wayte black holes come to exist in our universe? Well, 280 00:14:42,360 --> 00:14:44,120 Speaker 1: the thing that's preventing a star from being a black 281 00:14:44,120 --> 00:14:46,400 Speaker 1: hole immediately is this burning and so essentially you have 282 00:14:46,440 --> 00:14:48,800 Speaker 1: to wait for the fire to go out. After hundreds 283 00:14:48,800 --> 00:14:51,200 Speaker 1: of millions of years, it's turned that hydrogen into helium 284 00:14:51,240 --> 00:14:53,680 Speaker 1: and then into lithium and into heavier stuff, and that 285 00:14:53,760 --> 00:14:56,400 Speaker 1: stuff can burn also, but eventually it turns into something 286 00:14:56,440 --> 00:14:59,720 Speaker 1: that can't burn, which is iron, and so it runs 287 00:14:59,720 --> 00:15:03,120 Speaker 1: out of fuel. Most black holes come from stars? Is 288 00:15:03,120 --> 00:15:05,680 Speaker 1: that is that the path through a black hole? Or 289 00:15:06,040 --> 00:15:08,720 Speaker 1: can a black hole form any other way that's not 290 00:15:08,800 --> 00:15:12,359 Speaker 1: through a star? We're not exactly sure, like the supermassive 291 00:15:12,360 --> 00:15:14,640 Speaker 1: black holes that at the center of galaxies, we still 292 00:15:14,680 --> 00:15:16,960 Speaker 1: don't know what seated them, Like if you try to 293 00:15:17,000 --> 00:15:18,880 Speaker 1: model them just from coming from one star and then 294 00:15:18,920 --> 00:15:21,040 Speaker 1: gobbling up other ones, there's not enough time for them 295 00:15:21,040 --> 00:15:23,400 Speaker 1: to get that big, and so there's lots of different 296 00:15:23,400 --> 00:15:25,720 Speaker 1: categories of black holes. But we think that's sort of 297 00:15:25,720 --> 00:15:28,640 Speaker 1: your vanilla black hole that comes from a star happens 298 00:15:28,640 --> 00:15:31,000 Speaker 1: in this way, but we don't know if that's the 299 00:15:31,040 --> 00:15:33,840 Speaker 1: dominant fraction of black holes. Also, some black holes might 300 00:15:33,880 --> 00:15:36,040 Speaker 1: have been made at the Big Bang. They're called primordial 301 00:15:36,080 --> 00:15:38,400 Speaker 1: black holes, and those could still be flying around they 302 00:15:38,400 --> 00:15:40,760 Speaker 1: were made in the Big Bang. Yeah, these are the 303 00:15:40,800 --> 00:15:44,520 Speaker 1: o G black holes. So as the as the universe 304 00:15:44,600 --> 00:15:48,240 Speaker 1: was expanding rapidly, like, that's how you got black holes. Yeah, Well, 305 00:15:48,240 --> 00:15:50,600 Speaker 1: there was crazy energy density back then in the very 306 00:15:50,640 --> 00:15:53,160 Speaker 1: first moment of the universe, and you quantum fluctuations and 307 00:15:53,200 --> 00:15:55,960 Speaker 1: made some spots more dense and some spots less dense, 308 00:15:56,200 --> 00:15:58,320 Speaker 1: and then all that stuff turned into all that energy 309 00:15:58,320 --> 00:16:00,680 Speaker 1: turned into some kind of matter. Some it became very 310 00:16:00,720 --> 00:16:03,240 Speaker 1: on it and became dark matter. Some fraction that we 311 00:16:03,280 --> 00:16:05,920 Speaker 1: think might have turned into primordial black holes, which is 312 00:16:05,960 --> 00:16:09,480 Speaker 1: just a cool word. Primordial black holes. Yeah, it's like 313 00:16:09,480 --> 00:16:11,760 Speaker 1: a black hole emerging from the swamp. That's what I 314 00:16:11,760 --> 00:16:16,080 Speaker 1: have this image in my head, swamp of what the 315 00:16:16,120 --> 00:16:20,000 Speaker 1: swamp of the early universe, you know, pretty big bang. Yeah. 316 00:16:20,040 --> 00:16:21,880 Speaker 1: So you say, most black holes we don't know how 317 00:16:22,000 --> 00:16:24,320 Speaker 1: they're made, the big ones and the ones that were 318 00:16:24,360 --> 00:16:25,960 Speaker 1: at the beginning of the universe. But a lot of 319 00:16:26,000 --> 00:16:28,520 Speaker 1: the black holes we know about and see do come 320 00:16:28,560 --> 00:16:30,840 Speaker 1: from a process that we know about, which is from 321 00:16:31,120 --> 00:16:34,440 Speaker 1: collapsing stars. So it burns through all this fuel that's 322 00:16:34,560 --> 00:16:37,280 Speaker 1: keeping it from collapsing, and it gets heavier and heavier 323 00:16:37,320 --> 00:16:39,760 Speaker 1: and denser and denser, and then once it gets enough 324 00:16:39,800 --> 00:16:42,760 Speaker 1: iron in the core, it can't support itself anymore. Gravity 325 00:16:42,760 --> 00:16:46,080 Speaker 1: basically wins, and it starts crushing the star down even 326 00:16:46,120 --> 00:16:49,760 Speaker 1: more and more dense, and then there's I then that's 327 00:16:49,760 --> 00:16:53,280 Speaker 1: when it's super novas, right, Like, there's an event the 328 00:16:53,320 --> 00:16:55,720 Speaker 1: black hole, and you know, like every good movie, the 329 00:16:55,760 --> 00:16:58,320 Speaker 1: sort of drama accelerates. The first stage is really long 330 00:16:58,400 --> 00:17:00,440 Speaker 1: and boring set up, like hundreds of millions of years 331 00:17:00,440 --> 00:17:02,960 Speaker 1: of burning hydrogen, and then it burns helium and that's 332 00:17:03,040 --> 00:17:05,240 Speaker 1: less time, and then it burns lithium or whatever, and 333 00:17:05,240 --> 00:17:07,480 Speaker 1: that's less time in the last stage where it's like 334 00:17:07,560 --> 00:17:10,320 Speaker 1: trying to burn iron, that last for about one hour 335 00:17:10,720 --> 00:17:13,879 Speaker 1: and then it collapses and it's like that happens in 336 00:17:14,359 --> 00:17:17,240 Speaker 1: seconds or less than a second, and the edge of 337 00:17:17,240 --> 00:17:19,399 Speaker 1: the star collapses at something like a quarter of the 338 00:17:19,440 --> 00:17:21,960 Speaker 1: speed of light. So the whole thing happens like really quickly. 339 00:17:22,000 --> 00:17:26,400 Speaker 1: You go from star that's sputtering to collapsing, and then 340 00:17:26,440 --> 00:17:31,120 Speaker 1: the whole star just kind of falls into itself. Yeah, 341 00:17:31,200 --> 00:17:33,240 Speaker 1: and there's a lot of really interesting physics there, like 342 00:17:33,280 --> 00:17:36,320 Speaker 1: it's collapsing so rapidly that you get shock waves, and 343 00:17:36,320 --> 00:17:39,439 Speaker 1: those shock waves we think can create gamma ray bursts 344 00:17:39,480 --> 00:17:42,320 Speaker 1: when like layers of the star bump into other layers 345 00:17:42,320 --> 00:17:44,639 Speaker 1: of the star that aren't quite collapsing as quickly. We 346 00:17:44,720 --> 00:17:47,600 Speaker 1: talked on this podcast once about these gamma ray bursts, 347 00:17:47,920 --> 00:17:50,520 Speaker 1: hugely intense bursts of light that lasts like three or 348 00:17:50,640 --> 00:17:53,480 Speaker 1: thirty seconds that come from places we don't understand. It 349 00:17:53,560 --> 00:17:55,680 Speaker 1: might be the themes are happening sort of at these 350 00:17:55,760 --> 00:17:58,760 Speaker 1: moments just before the supernova, at the creation of the 351 00:17:58,760 --> 00:18:01,520 Speaker 1: black hole, but we're not sure. And it collapses from 352 00:18:01,640 --> 00:18:04,520 Speaker 1: gravity right like there's no longer a fire kind of 353 00:18:04,600 --> 00:18:07,479 Speaker 1: keeping everything out, and so everything just finally says, all right, 354 00:18:07,560 --> 00:18:11,560 Speaker 1: we'll come together as gravity tells us precisely, and gravity 355 00:18:11,640 --> 00:18:13,960 Speaker 1: just gets stronger and stronger a right. Gravity is just 356 00:18:14,000 --> 00:18:16,600 Speaker 1: sort of like winds, you know, it's like interest in 357 00:18:16,600 --> 00:18:19,800 Speaker 1: your bank account. The closer stuff it gets together, the 358 00:18:19,880 --> 00:18:22,000 Speaker 1: more gravity pulls. The more gravity pulls, the closer it 359 00:18:22,040 --> 00:18:24,040 Speaker 1: gets together, and then it accelerates, and so it gets 360 00:18:24,040 --> 00:18:26,840 Speaker 1: really really strong. And then at some moment the gravity 361 00:18:26,880 --> 00:18:30,240 Speaker 1: is strong enough that you get an event horizon that's formed. Oh, 362 00:18:30,400 --> 00:18:35,720 Speaker 1: I say, it's pulling stuff in so quickly that you 363 00:18:35,840 --> 00:18:38,120 Speaker 1: do get the conditions for a black hole. We talked 364 00:18:38,119 --> 00:18:42,320 Speaker 1: before about like neutron stars. And sometimes a supernova doesn't 365 00:18:42,320 --> 00:18:45,760 Speaker 1: result in a black hole, right, Sometimes it does, that's right. 366 00:18:45,800 --> 00:18:48,640 Speaker 1: Sometimes it can come down to another dense state that's stable, 367 00:18:48,880 --> 00:18:52,119 Speaker 1: like a neutron star. Everything has been squeezed so much 368 00:18:52,320 --> 00:18:55,600 Speaker 1: that all the protons have absorbed electrons and turned into neutrons, 369 00:18:55,840 --> 00:18:58,320 Speaker 1: and they've created this state that they can hold themselves 370 00:18:58,320 --> 00:19:02,160 Speaker 1: together and resist gravity, like one last more gasp before 371 00:19:02,160 --> 00:19:04,399 Speaker 1: it turns into a black hole. But sometimes it go 372 00:19:04,480 --> 00:19:06,840 Speaker 1: straight to a black hole, right, And the difference is 373 00:19:06,880 --> 00:19:09,280 Speaker 1: that just at the rate of how fast it collapsed 374 00:19:09,320 --> 00:19:11,680 Speaker 1: or what. Most of the difference is the initial amount 375 00:19:11,680 --> 00:19:14,360 Speaker 1: of stuff. If you have a big enough blob, then 376 00:19:14,400 --> 00:19:16,800 Speaker 1: I think you get to skip the neutron star step 377 00:19:16,920 --> 00:19:18,440 Speaker 1: and just go straight to a black hole. The whole 378 00:19:18,440 --> 00:19:20,960 Speaker 1: thing happens more quickly the more mass you have. And 379 00:19:21,040 --> 00:19:23,399 Speaker 1: really it's about density. I think you said once in 380 00:19:23,400 --> 00:19:26,040 Speaker 1: the podcast, which is cool, that anything can become a 381 00:19:26,040 --> 00:19:28,320 Speaker 1: black hole if you make it dense enough. And so 382 00:19:28,359 --> 00:19:31,120 Speaker 1: we're not changing the mass of this initial blob of gas, 383 00:19:31,160 --> 00:19:33,760 Speaker 1: We're just squeezing it down. At some point you make 384 00:19:33,800 --> 00:19:36,600 Speaker 1: it dense enough, then you have more mass and less 385 00:19:36,640 --> 00:19:39,439 Speaker 1: space than the gravity becomes strong enough to give you 386 00:19:39,440 --> 00:19:42,480 Speaker 1: an event horizon. Right like you, You can be become 387 00:19:42,520 --> 00:19:44,679 Speaker 1: a black hole. I can become a black hole. Everyone 388 00:19:44,720 --> 00:19:47,359 Speaker 1: can be black if we're all o g black holes. 389 00:19:48,000 --> 00:19:51,120 Speaker 1: I'm not primordial, man, I've been around to the Big 390 00:19:51,119 --> 00:19:53,560 Speaker 1: Bang and you feel old. But gez, just because you 391 00:19:53,600 --> 00:19:58,879 Speaker 1: get reading glasses, it doesn't make your primordial. No, that 392 00:19:59,000 --> 00:20:03,159 Speaker 1: just makes me hyper my myopic. Um. And then it 393 00:20:03,200 --> 00:20:05,160 Speaker 1: gets sort of back to this moment we were talking 394 00:20:05,160 --> 00:20:08,400 Speaker 1: about before, when we like Amazon Prime to singularity into existence, 395 00:20:08,600 --> 00:20:10,680 Speaker 1: because at some moment there's no event horizon, right, it's 396 00:20:10,680 --> 00:20:13,560 Speaker 1: just a hot, dense star. And then at some moment 397 00:20:13,840 --> 00:20:16,919 Speaker 1: there is because there's enough stuff there. It's a supernova. 398 00:20:16,960 --> 00:20:19,520 Speaker 1: And I hit the pause button and I'm stepping through 399 00:20:19,560 --> 00:20:22,000 Speaker 1: it super high speed frame by super high speed frame, 400 00:20:22,520 --> 00:20:26,119 Speaker 1: and I'm seeing it collapse, collapse, collapse, and at some 401 00:20:26,240 --> 00:20:29,920 Speaker 1: point I have enough stuff within a certain volume to 402 00:20:30,160 --> 00:20:33,480 Speaker 1: qualify as a black hole precisely. And I think the 403 00:20:33,520 --> 00:20:37,600 Speaker 1: first moment the event horizon is essentially minuscule is because 404 00:20:37,640 --> 00:20:39,720 Speaker 1: the densest point is going to be the very center 405 00:20:39,720 --> 00:20:41,679 Speaker 1: of this star, and that's the first place it's going 406 00:20:41,720 --> 00:20:44,480 Speaker 1: to cross that density threshold. And then as it gets 407 00:20:44,480 --> 00:20:47,080 Speaker 1: gobble stuff up, that event horizon is going to grow. 408 00:20:47,600 --> 00:20:49,080 Speaker 1: And it's not going to grow at the speed of 409 00:20:49,160 --> 00:20:51,800 Speaker 1: light because that would that would require all the mass 410 00:20:51,800 --> 00:20:54,240 Speaker 1: to move into the center instantaneously. But it's going to 411 00:20:54,400 --> 00:20:57,000 Speaker 1: gobble more stuff and then grow quickly out to its 412 00:20:57,000 --> 00:21:00,320 Speaker 1: eventual size. Interesting, and when you know that first, sure 413 00:21:00,400 --> 00:21:04,800 Speaker 1: that the center gets danses first, like you know, because 414 00:21:04,800 --> 00:21:08,639 Speaker 1: you could imagine just the whole thing collapsing from the 415 00:21:08,800 --> 00:21:11,600 Speaker 1: edges and at some point you just have enough stuff 416 00:21:11,920 --> 00:21:14,840 Speaker 1: to just have a giant black hole without its starting 417 00:21:14,840 --> 00:21:16,399 Speaker 1: in the middle. And the other idea is that it 418 00:21:16,440 --> 00:21:20,280 Speaker 1: could all transition at the same moment, is what you're saying, Yeah, 419 00:21:20,400 --> 00:21:22,320 Speaker 1: like it. Yeah. I don't think we know the gory 420 00:21:22,359 --> 00:21:25,280 Speaker 1: details of this collapse well enough to say how rapidly 421 00:21:25,359 --> 00:21:27,560 Speaker 1: the center versus the edge turns into a black hole. 422 00:21:27,920 --> 00:21:30,119 Speaker 1: But I think it's if it's gonna be anything, it's 423 00:21:30,119 --> 00:21:31,840 Speaker 1: going to be the center first, because that's definitely what 424 00:21:31,880 --> 00:21:34,720 Speaker 1: the strongest gravity is. It might be that the whole 425 00:21:34,720 --> 00:21:37,240 Speaker 1: thing happens very quickly. I'm not sure exactly about the 426 00:21:37,640 --> 00:21:40,040 Speaker 1: relative rate of the edge to the center, but it's 427 00:21:40,040 --> 00:21:42,879 Speaker 1: definitely gonna be the center first. Okay, So the ideas 428 00:21:42,920 --> 00:21:46,400 Speaker 1: that maybe probably what's happening is that there's a mini 429 00:21:46,400 --> 00:21:49,720 Speaker 1: black hole that's born at the middle of this collapsing star, 430 00:21:50,400 --> 00:21:53,560 Speaker 1: and as more stuff comes into it, it grows. Yeah, 431 00:21:53,600 --> 00:21:56,280 Speaker 1: and so and remember the threshold we're just we're talking 432 00:21:56,320 --> 00:21:58,480 Speaker 1: about the definition of the black hole is that where 433 00:21:58,480 --> 00:22:00,880 Speaker 1: that event horizon is. And that's not a physical thing. 434 00:22:00,920 --> 00:22:02,919 Speaker 1: It's not like you can touch it. It's just a 435 00:22:02,920 --> 00:22:05,840 Speaker 1: place inside of which there's too much gravity to escape 436 00:22:05,920 --> 00:22:08,239 Speaker 1: and outside of which there isn't And so it's just 437 00:22:08,280 --> 00:22:11,560 Speaker 1: like a mathematical definition. If you're actually on the border 438 00:22:11,720 --> 00:22:14,920 Speaker 1: between give and horizon or not, you wouldn't like your 439 00:22:14,960 --> 00:22:17,600 Speaker 1: life doesn't change that much. You go in from one 440 00:22:17,600 --> 00:22:19,439 Speaker 1: side of and I mean, like, I mean your toast. 441 00:22:19,480 --> 00:22:23,679 Speaker 1: You're probably not in a good place. But it's not 442 00:22:23,760 --> 00:22:27,760 Speaker 1: like suddenly, um, the skies turn you know, some weird color. 443 00:22:27,920 --> 00:22:32,080 Speaker 1: You feel different. It's like, no, you are a speghettified 444 00:22:32,160 --> 00:22:35,160 Speaker 1: piece of toast. But yeah, there's nothing physically different there 445 00:22:35,200 --> 00:22:37,280 Speaker 1: other than the strength of gravity is now above some 446 00:22:37,359 --> 00:22:40,439 Speaker 1: threshold rather than below. So I don't think qualitatively it 447 00:22:40,440 --> 00:22:43,399 Speaker 1: feels very different, except that now everywhere you look in 448 00:22:43,440 --> 00:22:46,120 Speaker 1: the universe is towards the center of the black hole. 449 00:22:46,320 --> 00:22:49,960 Speaker 1: I see, you would see like space around you warping, warping, warping, 450 00:22:49,960 --> 00:22:54,040 Speaker 1: and then suddenly, whoop, it all occurs in on itself. Yeah, precisely. 451 00:22:54,160 --> 00:22:56,200 Speaker 1: And then every direction you look would be in towards 452 00:22:56,240 --> 00:22:58,920 Speaker 1: the inside of the black hole. So everything that's outside 453 00:22:58,920 --> 00:23:01,399 Speaker 1: the black hole would be shrinking down eventually to a 454 00:23:01,400 --> 00:23:04,200 Speaker 1: dot and then disappear, And then everywhere you look would 455 00:23:04,200 --> 00:23:06,199 Speaker 1: be inside the black hole. There's no direction you can 456 00:23:06,240 --> 00:23:09,040 Speaker 1: go that's outside the black hole, and then you're trapped 457 00:23:09,320 --> 00:23:12,800 Speaker 1: forever and you are trapped or maybe you're on the 458 00:23:12,800 --> 00:23:14,840 Speaker 1: other side of something who knows, right, Yeah, so let's 459 00:23:14,880 --> 00:23:16,520 Speaker 1: talk about that. What it looks like from the other side. 460 00:23:16,560 --> 00:23:19,360 Speaker 1: I think that's pretty cool, like from inside or outside, 461 00:23:19,400 --> 00:23:21,800 Speaker 1: from outside, because I think his question was like, what 462 00:23:21,880 --> 00:23:24,080 Speaker 1: does it look like to see a black hole get made? 463 00:23:24,119 --> 00:23:26,440 Speaker 1: Does it go out like a light? Okay, so I'm 464 00:23:26,520 --> 00:23:30,360 Speaker 1: I'm in my Death Star hanging out with Darth and 465 00:23:30,600 --> 00:23:35,760 Speaker 1: watching the point that thing by the way, maybe we create, 466 00:23:35,840 --> 00:23:39,000 Speaker 1: maybe we collapse the star. Maybe maybe Darth Vader wanted 467 00:23:39,200 --> 00:23:41,200 Speaker 1: that's start taking out. Do you think he could reach 468 00:23:41,200 --> 00:23:43,280 Speaker 1: out with a force and squeeze a star the way 469 00:23:43,280 --> 00:23:46,360 Speaker 1: he can squeeze somebody's neck? Depend somebody medichlorians there are 470 00:23:46,359 --> 00:23:50,040 Speaker 1: probably I don't know, somebody needs to do a blood test. Yeah. 471 00:23:50,119 --> 00:23:51,800 Speaker 1: So you're you're on the deck of your Death Star, 472 00:23:51,920 --> 00:23:54,679 Speaker 1: hanging out with your buddy Dark. Yeah, you primed the 473 00:23:54,720 --> 00:23:59,520 Speaker 1: force fields and you see this star suddenly collapse boom um. 474 00:23:59,600 --> 00:24:03,360 Speaker 1: So we see the star shrink really fast and then 475 00:24:03,400 --> 00:24:06,040 Speaker 1: there's an explosion, right, because all that stuff when it collapses, 476 00:24:06,359 --> 00:24:11,080 Speaker 1: it like creates stock waves, right like yeah, because not 477 00:24:11,240 --> 00:24:13,240 Speaker 1: all the stuff falls in, right, some of it gets 478 00:24:13,320 --> 00:24:15,480 Speaker 1: thrown out, and you get this gamma ray burst, and 479 00:24:15,520 --> 00:24:18,120 Speaker 1: you get neutrinos, and you get a huge flash of light. 480 00:24:18,680 --> 00:24:21,480 Speaker 1: But then the star is gone. Right when the flash 481 00:24:21,520 --> 00:24:24,080 Speaker 1: of light is past you and all that, you know, 482 00:24:24,160 --> 00:24:28,160 Speaker 1: the hoopla and the drama of the universe has passed you, 483 00:24:28,440 --> 00:24:31,160 Speaker 1: then the star is just no longer they're burning, right. Instead, 484 00:24:31,359 --> 00:24:33,680 Speaker 1: all that light that was being produced by the star 485 00:24:33,800 --> 00:24:36,320 Speaker 1: is no longer being produced because it's no more fusion happening. Well, 486 00:24:36,400 --> 00:24:37,960 Speaker 1: will you skip the step of the black hole? So 487 00:24:38,000 --> 00:24:42,199 Speaker 1: we see the star collapsing, boom, a lot of energy 488 00:24:42,240 --> 00:24:46,000 Speaker 1: and light and strong waves spread out. And as that's happening, 489 00:24:46,720 --> 00:24:49,400 Speaker 1: there's a little black hole in the middle growing, right, 490 00:24:49,760 --> 00:24:51,920 Speaker 1: And so you're gonna be seeing less and less light 491 00:24:51,920 --> 00:24:53,520 Speaker 1: from the star because more of it's going to be 492 00:24:53,600 --> 00:24:56,840 Speaker 1: a black hole. And you know, practically you probably can't 493 00:24:56,880 --> 00:24:59,359 Speaker 1: see this thing happening anyway, because you're inundated by the 494 00:24:59,359 --> 00:25:02,399 Speaker 1: supernova outburst stuff, the gamma ray burst and all that 495 00:25:02,440 --> 00:25:04,600 Speaker 1: other stuff is going to totally blind you. But if 496 00:25:04,600 --> 00:25:07,040 Speaker 1: you could somehow see through that and watch what was 497 00:25:07,040 --> 00:25:09,560 Speaker 1: happening in the core. Then you're right. You'd see sort 498 00:25:09,600 --> 00:25:11,520 Speaker 1: of the center of the star be hollowed out and 499 00:25:11,560 --> 00:25:14,320 Speaker 1: turned into a black hole. And so the Star Wars 500 00:25:14,320 --> 00:25:16,520 Speaker 1: is beginning dimmer and dimmer. If you were wearing like 501 00:25:16,760 --> 00:25:21,000 Speaker 1: Gamma ray bands, could you just come up with that, 502 00:25:21,119 --> 00:25:25,960 Speaker 1: that is awesome as a special Gamma ray bands that 503 00:25:26,000 --> 00:25:28,280 Speaker 1: blocked thegether. You would see the star in the middle 504 00:25:28,359 --> 00:25:31,200 Speaker 1: like you would see this little black dot just grow 505 00:25:31,240 --> 00:25:33,800 Speaker 1: into a black circle. Right, Well, you wouldn't see the 506 00:25:33,800 --> 00:25:35,280 Speaker 1: dot to be at the center of the star, so 507 00:25:35,320 --> 00:25:37,560 Speaker 1: you'd be looking at the surface of the star, which 508 00:25:37,560 --> 00:25:39,639 Speaker 1: would be you know, collapsing and doing its thing and 509 00:25:39,680 --> 00:25:42,639 Speaker 1: maybe still burning in emitting light, but be eaten up 510 00:25:42,680 --> 00:25:45,760 Speaker 1: from the inside probably, And so you'd be seeing the 511 00:25:45,760 --> 00:25:48,080 Speaker 1: star get dimmer and dimmer because it's no longer supported 512 00:25:48,119 --> 00:25:51,760 Speaker 1: by fusion in the inside. Oh man, you're saying a 513 00:25:51,800 --> 00:25:55,239 Speaker 1: black hole eats the star from the inside. Yeah, it's 514 00:25:55,280 --> 00:25:58,639 Speaker 1: like one of those tarantula wasps. Oh man, Now I 515 00:25:58,680 --> 00:26:01,680 Speaker 1: think we need to switch to different sci fi movie. 516 00:26:01,720 --> 00:26:06,919 Speaker 1: Now we're in like an alien that's right. And and 517 00:26:06,960 --> 00:26:09,399 Speaker 1: so the star basically just goes out right all that 518 00:26:09,400 --> 00:26:11,919 Speaker 1: stuff that was burning that was producing light stops and 519 00:26:12,040 --> 00:26:14,159 Speaker 1: is now just sort of inside the black hole, no 520 00:26:14,200 --> 00:26:16,960 Speaker 1: longer producing the light. And so it doesn't go out 521 00:26:17,000 --> 00:26:19,520 Speaker 1: like a light. It's not like it just instantly switches off. 522 00:26:19,640 --> 00:26:23,600 Speaker 1: It used to get eaten from the inside. Wow. And 523 00:26:23,600 --> 00:26:27,520 Speaker 1: and at some point you'll see the black hole um 524 00:26:27,680 --> 00:26:30,080 Speaker 1: burst out of the star almost or like just kind 525 00:26:30,080 --> 00:26:32,480 Speaker 1: of grow out of it, and that's all you see. Yeah, 526 00:26:32,520 --> 00:26:36,000 Speaker 1: so I think you would see a black circle appure 527 00:26:36,119 --> 00:26:38,920 Speaker 1: sort of suddenly because the entire last surface of the 528 00:26:38,920 --> 00:26:41,399 Speaker 1: star would get gobbled up by it. But remember then, 529 00:26:41,440 --> 00:26:43,760 Speaker 1: the black hole is not like surrounded by empty space. 530 00:26:43,800 --> 00:26:46,119 Speaker 1: It can't eat everything that's around it. It's always going 531 00:26:46,160 --> 00:26:48,320 Speaker 1: to be surrounded by some amount of stuff that won't 532 00:26:48,320 --> 00:26:51,120 Speaker 1: fall in because it's rotating too fast to fall in. Oh, 533 00:26:51,320 --> 00:26:53,000 Speaker 1: I see, it's like a mess. It's like a it's 534 00:26:53,200 --> 00:26:56,320 Speaker 1: it's like the center of a tornado. Yeah, precisely, just 535 00:26:56,400 --> 00:26:59,000 Speaker 1: the way our solar system has a huge blob near 536 00:26:59,040 --> 00:27:01,680 Speaker 1: the center of the Sun, but not everything fell in, right, 537 00:27:01,760 --> 00:27:03,920 Speaker 1: The Earth doesn't fall into the center of the Sun 538 00:27:04,240 --> 00:27:06,119 Speaker 1: even though there's a huge amount of gravity because the 539 00:27:06,200 --> 00:27:08,800 Speaker 1: Earth is rotating in the same way. The stuff around 540 00:27:08,840 --> 00:27:12,840 Speaker 1: the black hole keeps spinning and eventually falls in um, 541 00:27:12,840 --> 00:27:14,960 Speaker 1: but some of it stays there for a long long time, 542 00:27:15,000 --> 00:27:16,639 Speaker 1: which is why when you look at that picture of 543 00:27:16,640 --> 00:27:19,040 Speaker 1: the black hole you see a glowing ring, which is 544 00:27:19,080 --> 00:27:20,879 Speaker 1: the stuff at the edge of the black hole that 545 00:27:20,920 --> 00:27:23,920 Speaker 1: has not fallen in. It's still spinning around it hundreds 546 00:27:23,920 --> 00:27:27,160 Speaker 1: of millions of years later, right yeah, and think about 547 00:27:27,160 --> 00:27:30,080 Speaker 1: what just happened that like a huge star just collapse, 548 00:27:30,600 --> 00:27:34,680 Speaker 1: and so there's probably it's probably like a super chaotic environment, 549 00:27:34,760 --> 00:27:38,480 Speaker 1: you know, there's like stuff that just like swirling around 550 00:27:38,480 --> 00:27:41,359 Speaker 1: from that crash, right yeah, And so probably you're mostly 551 00:27:41,400 --> 00:27:43,160 Speaker 1: going to be seeing the accretion disk and the stuff 552 00:27:43,200 --> 00:27:45,679 Speaker 1: swirling around it for a long time because it's a 553 00:27:45,760 --> 00:27:48,280 Speaker 1: nasty environment. The gravity there, even though it's not black 554 00:27:48,280 --> 00:27:51,800 Speaker 1: hole levels, it's still really really strong, and that squeezes 555 00:27:51,840 --> 00:27:54,600 Speaker 1: all that gas and stresses it and then it radiates. 556 00:27:54,720 --> 00:27:57,160 Speaker 1: So some of the brightest things in the universe are 557 00:27:57,240 --> 00:27:59,240 Speaker 1: gas that are right outside the edge of a black 558 00:27:59,240 --> 00:28:01,520 Speaker 1: hole that we call those quasars when they are at 559 00:28:01,520 --> 00:28:04,080 Speaker 1: the center of a galaxy, and they're extraordinarily bright in 560 00:28:04,320 --> 00:28:06,800 Speaker 1: X ray and invisible light. But I guess the main 561 00:28:06,880 --> 00:28:10,040 Speaker 1: thing is that it would be pretty instantaneous, almost right, 562 00:28:10,080 --> 00:28:12,000 Speaker 1: like maybe you couldn't even see it with the naked eye, 563 00:28:12,040 --> 00:28:15,080 Speaker 1: which is collapse. Boom, Suddenly there's a black hole in 564 00:28:15,119 --> 00:28:19,520 Speaker 1: the middle with all this swirling uh you know, gas 565 00:28:19,600 --> 00:28:23,440 Speaker 1: burning gas and crazy energies swirling around it. Right, it 566 00:28:23,480 --> 00:28:26,800 Speaker 1: would be sort of like boom, right, precisely, precisely. The 567 00:28:26,920 --> 00:28:30,919 Speaker 1: actual transition from star to black hole happens very quickly, 568 00:28:31,000 --> 00:28:33,480 Speaker 1: probably less than a second, but then it takes a 569 00:28:33,480 --> 00:28:35,240 Speaker 1: while for the sort of clean up the scene of 570 00:28:35,320 --> 00:28:37,280 Speaker 1: the accident so you can actually see the black hole 571 00:28:37,320 --> 00:28:42,080 Speaker 1: with your cosmic ray cosmic gamma ray bands on. You 572 00:28:42,080 --> 00:28:44,080 Speaker 1: have to wait for the dust to settle a little bit, 573 00:28:44,560 --> 00:28:48,320 Speaker 1: and then you see the black hole precisely, and then 574 00:28:48,360 --> 00:28:52,800 Speaker 1: you and Darth Vader cut the umbilical cord and your 575 00:28:52,880 --> 00:28:55,520 Speaker 1: proud parents of a new black hole. That's right. Then 576 00:28:55,560 --> 00:28:56,880 Speaker 1: you got to give it a name, and then you 577 00:28:57,000 --> 00:29:01,560 Speaker 1: argue about that, and he probably wins. He's like an 578 00:29:01,560 --> 00:29:03,800 Speaker 1: a kid. No, no, we already used that one. I 579 00:29:03,840 --> 00:29:09,880 Speaker 1: am the feeling Darth Vader wins every marital argument, all right, 580 00:29:09,960 --> 00:29:12,640 Speaker 1: So that answers Glenn's questions. What happens at the moment 581 00:29:12,840 --> 00:29:15,880 Speaker 1: a black hole is made a lot of stuff and 582 00:29:16,040 --> 00:29:18,160 Speaker 1: a lot of very quickly. It seems to be the answer. 583 00:29:18,320 --> 00:29:21,120 Speaker 1: It's a huge, cosmic, beautiful mess. All right. So that 584 00:29:21,160 --> 00:29:24,840 Speaker 1: answers that question, and we'll get now into Josh's question 585 00:29:24,960 --> 00:29:28,040 Speaker 1: about building a death star. But first let's take a 586 00:29:28,120 --> 00:29:44,440 Speaker 1: quick break, all right. So Josh from Fargo, North Dakota 587 00:29:44,760 --> 00:29:49,120 Speaker 1: has a question about building a death star, and I 588 00:29:49,160 --> 00:29:51,320 Speaker 1: have to say I kind of wonder why he's asking 589 00:29:51,360 --> 00:29:56,400 Speaker 1: this question. So here's Josh with his question. Hi, Daniel Horror. Hey, 590 00:29:56,440 --> 00:30:00,000 Speaker 1: this is Joshua Higginson from Fargo, and today my question 591 00:30:00,000 --> 00:30:06,760 Speaker 1: stion is, oh, could we build a death star? I've 592 00:30:06,760 --> 00:30:09,560 Speaker 1: been thinking about that question lately. I mean, are there 593 00:30:09,600 --> 00:30:12,880 Speaker 1: even enough resources on the planet to construct such a 594 00:30:12,880 --> 00:30:17,320 Speaker 1: massive advice? What kind of power would the death laser require? 595 00:30:18,080 --> 00:30:20,720 Speaker 1: And couldn't really make a planet explode? O? Man, I 596 00:30:20,760 --> 00:30:24,720 Speaker 1: love how he has music. He had music to this question. Yeah, Josh, 597 00:30:24,720 --> 00:30:27,160 Speaker 1: it's pretty awesome. I don't think Josh deserves having you 598 00:30:27,200 --> 00:30:33,760 Speaker 1: impugne his intentions. I think we should. I don't know Josh, 599 00:30:33,800 --> 00:30:35,880 Speaker 1: but he sounds awesome and I think we should assume 600 00:30:35,920 --> 00:30:38,160 Speaker 1: that his curiosity comes from the same place that all 601 00:30:38,200 --> 00:30:41,120 Speaker 1: the questions come from, which is just a desire to know. 602 00:30:41,600 --> 00:30:43,520 Speaker 1: I don't think Josh is out there wanting to build 603 00:30:43,520 --> 00:30:45,760 Speaker 1: a death star so he can blow up innocent planets, 604 00:30:45,960 --> 00:30:52,280 Speaker 1: right Josh. Um, that depends on what his last name is. 605 00:30:52,320 --> 00:30:57,360 Speaker 1: Maybe Josh Skywalker. And we should be worried a little bit. 606 00:30:57,600 --> 00:30:59,720 Speaker 1: What do you think about, you know, whether the Constitution 607 00:31:00,000 --> 00:31:02,080 Speaker 1: text people's rights to build their own death star? Is 608 00:31:02,080 --> 00:31:08,040 Speaker 1: that a well regulated militia, the right to bear giant satellite? 609 00:31:08,400 --> 00:31:12,320 Speaker 1: Um stays faring death rays? Hey, how else are you 610 00:31:12,360 --> 00:31:15,680 Speaker 1: going to protect against the tyrannical government? Right? Good guys 611 00:31:15,680 --> 00:31:20,080 Speaker 1: with death stars? That's the answer. What would have happened 612 00:31:21,600 --> 00:31:24,560 Speaker 1: if the Rebel Alliance had their own death star? Yeah? 613 00:31:24,760 --> 00:31:28,800 Speaker 1: Some people had the death star in their pockets. Um. So, yes, 614 00:31:28,960 --> 00:31:30,960 Speaker 1: that's an interesting question. And we're going to assume he's 615 00:31:31,000 --> 00:31:34,120 Speaker 1: just curious, he doesn't actually want to build one for 616 00:31:34,200 --> 00:31:37,680 Speaker 1: some reason. Um. I guess it's a pretty interesting question. 617 00:31:37,720 --> 00:31:41,320 Speaker 1: I guess it's like, is it even physically possible to 618 00:31:41,640 --> 00:31:45,800 Speaker 1: build one and maybe even have a one exist? I 619 00:31:45,840 --> 00:31:48,560 Speaker 1: guess is the question? Right? Yeah? And it's a great question, 620 00:31:48,560 --> 00:31:51,760 Speaker 1: and it comes in a long tradition of wonderful inspiration 621 00:31:51,800 --> 00:31:55,000 Speaker 1: for new technology from science fiction. You know, our science 622 00:31:55,000 --> 00:31:57,800 Speaker 1: fiction authors are always imagining what the future will be like, 623 00:31:57,840 --> 00:32:00,600 Speaker 1: how humans will live, and what kind of new gizmos 624 00:32:00,640 --> 00:32:03,520 Speaker 1: they might invent. And then scientists do this, they say 625 00:32:03,880 --> 00:32:06,600 Speaker 1: that does seem cool? Could I make that? And so 626 00:32:06,640 --> 00:32:09,160 Speaker 1: this is a wonderful, long tradition of following up on 627 00:32:09,200 --> 00:32:11,640 Speaker 1: the ideas of science fiction authors. And for those of 628 00:32:11,680 --> 00:32:14,120 Speaker 1: you who have not seen Star Wars, which I don't 629 00:32:14,120 --> 00:32:17,600 Speaker 1: know if it's possible, but in case, I've met a 630 00:32:17,600 --> 00:32:19,520 Speaker 1: lot of people who haven't seen Star Wars. To be honest, 631 00:32:19,840 --> 00:32:22,040 Speaker 1: I'm pretty sure the ven diagram of people who listen 632 00:32:22,080 --> 00:32:24,640 Speaker 1: to this podcast and people have seen Star Wars of 633 00:32:24,680 --> 00:32:28,120 Speaker 1: overlap well for the occasional outlier. The Death Star in 634 00:32:28,200 --> 00:32:31,480 Speaker 1: Star Wars was a giant it's it's a giant sphere 635 00:32:32,960 --> 00:32:36,640 Speaker 1: man made not a moon, right, not a moon, but 636 00:32:36,680 --> 00:32:39,000 Speaker 1: about the size of a moon. It was actually like 637 00:32:39,040 --> 00:32:43,080 Speaker 1: a giant space station, right, who's made entirely out of 638 00:32:43,120 --> 00:32:47,200 Speaker 1: metal that you can see, And it had a giant 639 00:32:47,240 --> 00:32:51,160 Speaker 1: death rate. It certainly did capable of destroying planets. And 640 00:32:51,200 --> 00:32:53,400 Speaker 1: so I guess the question is could you even build 641 00:32:53,440 --> 00:32:55,720 Speaker 1: such a thing? Wouldn't would it be hard to make? 642 00:32:55,760 --> 00:32:58,800 Speaker 1: Could you know? Would it collapse on its own? How? 643 00:32:58,840 --> 00:33:01,160 Speaker 1: How could you build it? How would you flight around? 644 00:33:01,200 --> 00:33:03,800 Speaker 1: Wouldn't it just get sucked into the orbit of other things? 645 00:33:04,600 --> 00:33:06,640 Speaker 1: And so that's the that's what will that's what will 646 00:33:06,680 --> 00:33:08,840 Speaker 1: be hopefully answering to me. And it's question. Apparently a 647 00:33:08,840 --> 00:33:11,000 Speaker 1: lot of people have Apparently a lot of people ask 648 00:33:11,080 --> 00:33:13,960 Speaker 1: Obama to build one. Yeah, you can write these petitions 649 00:33:14,000 --> 00:33:16,240 Speaker 1: to the White House there on the website, and any 650 00:33:16,240 --> 00:33:18,600 Speaker 1: petition that got more than twenty five thousand people to 651 00:33:18,720 --> 00:33:21,840 Speaker 1: sign on, the White House had to officially respond to 652 00:33:21,880 --> 00:33:25,880 Speaker 1: the petition. And so in two thousand and twelve thousand 653 00:33:25,960 --> 00:33:29,520 Speaker 1: people asked President Obama to build a death star, not 654 00:33:29,640 --> 00:33:31,720 Speaker 1: like hey, could you, but like, we want you to 655 00:33:31,800 --> 00:33:34,760 Speaker 1: do this. This should be a policy priority. The people's 656 00:33:35,040 --> 00:33:39,160 Speaker 1: the people's on the internets want I don't know how 657 00:33:39,960 --> 00:33:43,360 Speaker 1: many of those were actually Russian bots. Do you think 658 00:33:43,400 --> 00:33:45,720 Speaker 1: the Russians want Obama to build a death star? I 659 00:33:45,760 --> 00:33:50,080 Speaker 1: don't think so. Well, we have a space force, so 660 00:33:50,960 --> 00:33:53,480 Speaker 1: you know, we're not that far from a death star. 661 00:33:53,760 --> 00:33:56,200 Speaker 1: And so, of course the Obama White House did respond 662 00:33:56,320 --> 00:33:59,000 Speaker 1: as required by law, and they rejected this petition for 663 00:33:59,120 --> 00:34:01,640 Speaker 1: I think a pretty good Yeah, that's pretty awesome. They 664 00:34:01,680 --> 00:34:04,680 Speaker 1: said that such a death star would have a fundamental 665 00:34:04,760 --> 00:34:07,880 Speaker 1: design flaw because it can be destroyed by a single 666 00:34:08,120 --> 00:34:13,880 Speaker 1: small spacecraft by one farmer from the desert. Send it 667 00:34:13,960 --> 00:34:16,759 Speaker 1: back to the drawing board. Give me an impregnable death 668 00:34:16,760 --> 00:34:19,400 Speaker 1: start that one they would build, right, although if you 669 00:34:19,400 --> 00:34:21,480 Speaker 1: think about it, they did. They did it twice right 670 00:34:21,719 --> 00:34:24,200 Speaker 1: in Star Wars. It's like the first one got destroyed 671 00:34:24,200 --> 00:34:26,840 Speaker 1: by a single spacecraft, they build another one. They didn't 672 00:34:26,880 --> 00:34:30,880 Speaker 1: change the design. It was still vulnerable to a single spacecraft. 673 00:34:30,920 --> 00:34:33,400 Speaker 1: That's the problem with big government. You know, not very agile, 674 00:34:33,520 --> 00:34:35,360 Speaker 1: not very agile, but you know, say you wanted to 675 00:34:35,360 --> 00:34:38,040 Speaker 1: build this thing. And in the movies, you notice they 676 00:34:38,080 --> 00:34:40,720 Speaker 1: don't build it on on a planet, right, they build 677 00:34:40,719 --> 00:34:43,080 Speaker 1: it in space itself. They had these awesome scenes. You 678 00:34:43,120 --> 00:34:45,400 Speaker 1: can see the construction part way through in one of 679 00:34:45,400 --> 00:34:48,040 Speaker 1: the movies. Well, I think there's several questions here, is like, 680 00:34:48,080 --> 00:34:51,480 Speaker 1: how would you build it is even physically possible for 681 00:34:51,520 --> 00:34:54,759 Speaker 1: it to exist? And also that laser can we build 682 00:34:54,760 --> 00:34:58,360 Speaker 1: a laser like that? And also can we wear cool helmets? 683 00:34:58,400 --> 00:35:01,640 Speaker 1: Like these guys, where activate the license laser? I think 684 00:35:01,680 --> 00:35:03,799 Speaker 1: that's the only part that you can do actually to 685 00:35:03,840 --> 00:35:07,600 Speaker 1: cut the whole question short is where those cool helmets? 686 00:35:07,600 --> 00:35:09,759 Speaker 1: But it's a it's pretty awesome question. I think can 687 00:35:09,800 --> 00:35:11,800 Speaker 1: you build something that big? And there's a lot of 688 00:35:11,840 --> 00:35:14,920 Speaker 1: limitations there. One is just like can you find enough stuff? 689 00:35:15,320 --> 00:35:16,880 Speaker 1: You know, you want to build something the size of 690 00:35:16,880 --> 00:35:19,359 Speaker 1: the moon. The Moon is big, you know, the Moon 691 00:35:19,640 --> 00:35:22,879 Speaker 1: is like twenty five times all the mass of all 692 00:35:22,920 --> 00:35:26,880 Speaker 1: the asteroids and the asteroid belt. It's enormous times wow. 693 00:35:26,960 --> 00:35:29,359 Speaker 1: But it's solid. The Moon is solid. But the Death Star, 694 00:35:29,880 --> 00:35:35,200 Speaker 1: you know, had hallways and trash compactor rooms and hangars, 695 00:35:35,600 --> 00:35:39,200 Speaker 1: so it's not uh, it's it's not a solid piece 696 00:35:39,239 --> 00:35:41,680 Speaker 1: of steel. Right. Do you still need a lot? You 697 00:35:41,719 --> 00:35:43,400 Speaker 1: still need a lot and you know, but we do 698 00:35:43,480 --> 00:35:46,080 Speaker 1: have the resources. We have planets, We have small moons. 699 00:35:46,400 --> 00:35:48,120 Speaker 1: So you can imagine you could take some of the 700 00:35:48,120 --> 00:35:50,719 Speaker 1: stuff from the asteroid belt, and you could take some 701 00:35:50,920 --> 00:35:53,239 Speaker 1: small moons from some of the planets, and there are 702 00:35:53,320 --> 00:35:55,759 Speaker 1: the raw materials. They're like the asteroid belt in those 703 00:35:55,760 --> 00:35:58,319 Speaker 1: moons have a lot of metal. Oh I see, So 704 00:35:58,360 --> 00:36:03,239 Speaker 1: it's technically possible to build a structure structure like that. Well, 705 00:36:03,280 --> 00:36:05,239 Speaker 1: I'd say that these sources are out there, like they 706 00:36:05,280 --> 00:36:08,839 Speaker 1: just don't exist on Earth. Earth steel output every year 707 00:36:08,920 --> 00:36:11,200 Speaker 1: is pretty small, Like you need about eight hundred and 708 00:36:11,239 --> 00:36:15,719 Speaker 1: thirty thousand years of humanity's current output is steel to 709 00:36:15,800 --> 00:36:17,960 Speaker 1: have enough to build a death star. So that's going 710 00:36:18,000 --> 00:36:19,800 Speaker 1: to take a long time. So you need to find 711 00:36:19,800 --> 00:36:21,560 Speaker 1: it something, need to source it somewhere else. You need 712 00:36:21,560 --> 00:36:24,719 Speaker 1: to go to the asteroid steel steel yards, okay, and 713 00:36:24,760 --> 00:36:28,400 Speaker 1: that's where you could possibly build it. So you can't 714 00:36:28,960 --> 00:36:31,560 Speaker 1: build it from materials here on Earth. But if you 715 00:36:31,840 --> 00:36:35,319 Speaker 1: find those materials that in asteroids, you could technically build one. Yeah, 716 00:36:35,320 --> 00:36:36,920 Speaker 1: I think it'd be easier to get all that metal 717 00:36:36,920 --> 00:36:38,840 Speaker 1: out of asteroids rather than digging it out of the 718 00:36:38,840 --> 00:36:42,239 Speaker 1: Earth's crust. And somebody did a calculation like how much 719 00:36:42,280 --> 00:36:44,360 Speaker 1: would that steel cost? And they came up with a 720 00:36:44,440 --> 00:36:48,800 Speaker 1: ridiculous number, which is eight hundred and fifty quadrillion dollars 721 00:36:48,800 --> 00:36:50,799 Speaker 1: worth of steel. That doesn't sound too bad. Isn't that 722 00:36:50,840 --> 00:36:52,879 Speaker 1: about the the size of the U S deficit at 723 00:36:52,880 --> 00:36:55,800 Speaker 1: this point? Or that doesn't sound too bad to you? Hey, aorry, 724 00:36:55,840 --> 00:36:58,760 Speaker 1: can I borrow a hundred fifty thousand quadrillion dollars please, 725 00:36:59,080 --> 00:37:06,160 Speaker 1: it's just you know, for quarters, I'll take either one, honestly, no, 726 00:37:06,320 --> 00:37:08,640 Speaker 1: But of course that number is ridiculous because you had 727 00:37:08,680 --> 00:37:10,799 Speaker 1: that much steal, then it would change the price and 728 00:37:10,840 --> 00:37:13,319 Speaker 1: you know, dot dot dot economics. But the point is, 729 00:37:13,320 --> 00:37:15,560 Speaker 1: it's an enormous amount of resources. We don't have that 730 00:37:15,600 --> 00:37:17,239 Speaker 1: here in the surface of the Earth. You probably have 731 00:37:17,280 --> 00:37:19,680 Speaker 1: to take a part of Moon or all of the 732 00:37:19,680 --> 00:37:23,200 Speaker 1: asteroids or both just even get enough resources to build it. 733 00:37:23,280 --> 00:37:26,920 Speaker 1: But technically it is possible. Well, there's there's a structural 734 00:37:27,000 --> 00:37:29,920 Speaker 1: question also, you know that's like can you get enough steel? 735 00:37:30,200 --> 00:37:32,440 Speaker 1: But you put enough steel together and it has a 736 00:37:32,480 --> 00:37:37,480 Speaker 1: lot of gravitational attraction, you know, it weighs a lot. Yeah, 737 00:37:37,520 --> 00:37:40,280 Speaker 1: I was just pulling itself, Like, think about what prevents 738 00:37:40,320 --> 00:37:44,920 Speaker 1: you from building a steel tower that's like twenty miles high. Well, 739 00:37:45,000 --> 00:37:46,840 Speaker 1: the top of the tower is pressing on the bottom 740 00:37:46,840 --> 00:37:49,000 Speaker 1: of the tower, and the tower twenty miles high, and the 741 00:37:48,960 --> 00:37:52,000 Speaker 1: the twenty miles of steel pressing on the bottom, so 742 00:37:52,040 --> 00:37:54,359 Speaker 1: the bottom is going to get crushed. So if you're 743 00:37:54,360 --> 00:37:57,880 Speaker 1: gonna make a moon sized object, then it's going to 744 00:37:57,920 --> 00:38:00,480 Speaker 1: start to get its own gravity and it's gonna put 745 00:38:00,560 --> 00:38:02,640 Speaker 1: some stress on it. Oh man, let's not get into 746 00:38:02,680 --> 00:38:05,520 Speaker 1: gravity and star Wars, because I feel like we had 747 00:38:05,680 --> 00:38:08,200 Speaker 1: We can have a whole episode here about where do 748 00:38:08,320 --> 00:38:12,560 Speaker 1: these spaceships get gravity? And star Wars? Alright, So, assuming 749 00:38:12,600 --> 00:38:15,080 Speaker 1: we have perfect control of gravity, we can manipulate however 750 00:38:15,160 --> 00:38:17,839 Speaker 1: we like. Then let's ask a really detailed question about 751 00:38:17,880 --> 00:38:23,000 Speaker 1: construction of a death star. Yeah, assuming gravity, uh doesn't exist, 752 00:38:23,880 --> 00:38:26,560 Speaker 1: but producing in our universe right now, if you build 753 00:38:26,560 --> 00:38:29,480 Speaker 1: a giant structure of steel, it would probably collapse. It's 754 00:38:29,520 --> 00:38:34,439 Speaker 1: just so heavy on itself, right, it gets pretty thin. Yeah, 755 00:38:35,000 --> 00:38:37,560 Speaker 1: but I think it probably possible. Remember, gravity even on 756 00:38:37,640 --> 00:38:40,239 Speaker 1: the Moon is not that strong compared to gravity on 757 00:38:40,280 --> 00:38:42,040 Speaker 1: the surface of the Earth. So if you're out there 758 00:38:42,080 --> 00:38:45,719 Speaker 1: in space, there'd be some gravity just from its own attraction. 759 00:38:46,080 --> 00:38:48,000 Speaker 1: But I don't think it'd be a limiting factor. Oh, 760 00:38:48,080 --> 00:38:50,200 Speaker 1: I see, you could maybe like m oh, I see, 761 00:38:50,280 --> 00:38:52,920 Speaker 1: like a steel tower on Earth would collapse because it's 762 00:38:52,960 --> 00:38:56,520 Speaker 1: on Earth, but a steel tower out in space wouldn't 763 00:38:56,520 --> 00:38:59,000 Speaker 1: feel the same gravity to collapse. Yeah, you need need 764 00:38:59,080 --> 00:39:01,920 Speaker 1: to make this a start and be really enormous before 765 00:39:02,239 --> 00:39:05,680 Speaker 1: the gravitational forces would play a significant role and have 766 00:39:05,800 --> 00:39:08,640 Speaker 1: to have, you know, mass more than the moon in 767 00:39:08,840 --> 00:39:11,200 Speaker 1: order to have significant gravity. Well, that's why you would 768 00:39:11,239 --> 00:39:15,799 Speaker 1: really lean on your astro engineers precisely, precisely, and maybe 769 00:39:15,840 --> 00:39:17,439 Speaker 1: they come up with a better material. You know, maybe 770 00:39:17,480 --> 00:39:20,160 Speaker 1: steel is not the material of choice for building your 771 00:39:20,520 --> 00:39:23,279 Speaker 1: you know, intergalactic death bomb. Maybe you wanted out of 772 00:39:23,320 --> 00:39:26,520 Speaker 1: a different material, Yeah, aluminum or something else. I'm not sure. 773 00:39:26,640 --> 00:39:29,640 Speaker 1: All right, Well then, um, it seems like it's plausible. 774 00:39:29,680 --> 00:39:33,239 Speaker 1: There are resources out there and and there might be 775 00:39:33,520 --> 00:39:35,640 Speaker 1: a good way to engineer the structure like that. But 776 00:39:35,719 --> 00:39:37,960 Speaker 1: then I guess the question is can can I make 777 00:39:38,040 --> 00:39:43,440 Speaker 1: that laser the cool green laser that can destroy a planet? 778 00:39:44,000 --> 00:39:46,000 Speaker 1: And that's what it's really about, isn't that Everybody just 779 00:39:46,080 --> 00:39:48,600 Speaker 1: wants to build a really big gun. Well, do you think, 780 00:39:48,680 --> 00:39:50,640 Speaker 1: Josh this is the part Josh was interested in, or 781 00:39:50,719 --> 00:39:53,279 Speaker 1: was he interested in the astro engineering part of it? 782 00:39:53,600 --> 00:39:55,320 Speaker 1: I don't know. I wonder if Josh has a laser 783 00:39:55,400 --> 00:39:57,279 Speaker 1: in his garage and these building and he's wondering, like 784 00:39:58,120 --> 00:40:01,320 Speaker 1: how big could I make this thing? He's like, I 785 00:40:01,400 --> 00:40:04,560 Speaker 1: can't get it big enough. I'll ask Daniel Horror. Maybe 786 00:40:04,640 --> 00:40:07,480 Speaker 1: they can chime in, Maybe they can help me destroy 787 00:40:07,600 --> 00:40:11,000 Speaker 1: the universe instead of explained it. Um. Well, currently we 788 00:40:11,160 --> 00:40:14,600 Speaker 1: have some pretty powerful lasers, but they're not anything close 789 00:40:14,719 --> 00:40:17,120 Speaker 1: to what you would need in order to destroy a planet. 790 00:40:17,480 --> 00:40:21,120 Speaker 1: Like currently, our lasers can just barely deflect a missile, 791 00:40:21,200 --> 00:40:23,600 Speaker 1: you know, or shoot down an incoming missile, and there 792 00:40:23,640 --> 00:40:25,440 Speaker 1: are people working on lasers that might be able to 793 00:40:25,680 --> 00:40:28,800 Speaker 1: deflect an asteroid. But the most powerful laser we have 794 00:40:28,960 --> 00:40:31,560 Speaker 1: right now is like two petal wats. Sounds like a lot, 795 00:40:31,880 --> 00:40:35,320 Speaker 1: but you know, like a light bulb is sixty watts. 796 00:40:36,080 --> 00:40:39,120 Speaker 1: A petal wat sounds like a lot of zeros. Petat 797 00:40:39,280 --> 00:40:41,480 Speaker 1: is a lot of zeros, but it takes even more 798 00:40:41,640 --> 00:40:45,120 Speaker 1: zeros to blow up a planet. Somebody again, did this calculation. 799 00:40:45,200 --> 00:40:48,680 Speaker 1: Somebody in astro engineering program, I guess, and they calculated 800 00:40:48,719 --> 00:40:51,920 Speaker 1: that you would need a million billion of two of 801 00:40:52,000 --> 00:40:55,600 Speaker 1: the two most powerful lasers on Earth in order to 802 00:40:55,719 --> 00:40:58,400 Speaker 1: sort of damage a planet enough to break it up. 803 00:40:58,560 --> 00:41:02,920 Speaker 1: Somebody actually calculated this, Like, here's a formula for destroying 804 00:41:02,960 --> 00:41:06,440 Speaker 1: a planet. This is something in people's minds. You know, 805 00:41:06,680 --> 00:41:09,520 Speaker 1: you see something on TV, your scientists, you think, could 806 00:41:09,600 --> 00:41:11,239 Speaker 1: we actually do that? And then you get out a 807 00:41:11,280 --> 00:41:12,600 Speaker 1: piece of paper and a pencil and you try to 808 00:41:12,640 --> 00:41:14,800 Speaker 1: figure it out, and you're like, I have tenure, I 809 00:41:14,880 --> 00:41:16,600 Speaker 1: can do it. I can spend my day doing this. 810 00:41:17,560 --> 00:41:19,680 Speaker 1: There's probably a journal of death Star engineering that you 811 00:41:19,719 --> 00:41:22,279 Speaker 1: could publish these papers, and there you go. Aster the 812 00:41:22,360 --> 00:41:27,080 Speaker 1: Journal of astro Genocide is a phrase I've never heard 813 00:41:27,160 --> 00:41:30,719 Speaker 1: before and instantly hate astrogenocide. But do you so you 814 00:41:30,880 --> 00:41:35,240 Speaker 1: need a million billion of the most powerful lasers currently 815 00:41:35,640 --> 00:41:40,000 Speaker 1: on Earth to make it? But maybe that sounds not implausible. 816 00:41:40,040 --> 00:41:41,560 Speaker 1: I mean, if we're going to build a death Star 817 00:41:42,200 --> 00:41:45,200 Speaker 1: and spend eight hundred and fifty quadrillion dollars, why not 818 00:41:45,320 --> 00:41:48,640 Speaker 1: build a million billion powerful lasers? Yeah? I mean if 819 00:41:48,680 --> 00:41:50,800 Speaker 1: you have infinite resources and time and money, if you 820 00:41:50,880 --> 00:41:53,120 Speaker 1: become emperor or the Earth and this is what you 821 00:41:53,160 --> 00:41:55,960 Speaker 1: wanted to devote all of humanities resources too, it's not 822 00:41:56,160 --> 00:41:59,720 Speaker 1: totally implausible. But there is one thing about the laser 823 00:41:59,800 --> 00:42:02,480 Speaker 1: in movie that I think we could never accomplish. Did 824 00:42:02,520 --> 00:42:05,799 Speaker 1: the green color or oh, we could do whatever color 825 00:42:05,880 --> 00:42:07,799 Speaker 1: you like? But you know how when they pull the lever, 826 00:42:08,200 --> 00:42:10,600 Speaker 1: they have this really cool effect where the lasers come 827 00:42:10,640 --> 00:42:12,880 Speaker 1: out from the edge of the circle, meet in the middle, 828 00:42:13,200 --> 00:42:16,560 Speaker 1: glow for a minute, and then zap off. Right, that's impossible. 829 00:42:17,040 --> 00:42:20,000 Speaker 1: Lasers don't do that. They don't like meet and converge 830 00:42:20,080 --> 00:42:22,000 Speaker 1: and then zoom off. They just sort of shooting a 831 00:42:22,080 --> 00:42:25,120 Speaker 1: straight line. So it's not as cool looking from the 832 00:42:25,280 --> 00:42:27,800 Speaker 1: in a cinematic point of view. But you need a 833 00:42:27,840 --> 00:42:30,279 Speaker 1: single Lasers just sort of shot out of the edge 834 00:42:30,320 --> 00:42:32,920 Speaker 1: of a muzzle. They don't like come together and converge 835 00:42:33,000 --> 00:42:35,560 Speaker 1: that way and then change direction in mid space. Oh, 836 00:42:35,960 --> 00:42:39,839 Speaker 1: I see, it's like, yeah, it was that in the movie. 837 00:42:39,880 --> 00:42:43,279 Speaker 1: They it's like four or five individual beams that come 838 00:42:43,360 --> 00:42:46,200 Speaker 1: together and then shoot out to the to the planet 839 00:42:46,280 --> 00:42:50,280 Speaker 1: to destroy it. That's the part that's unnatural or physically impossible. 840 00:42:50,560 --> 00:42:52,279 Speaker 1: That's right. But hey, if you want to build your 841 00:42:52,360 --> 00:42:55,240 Speaker 1: own iron Moon and just shoot out a normal, boring 842 00:42:55,360 --> 00:42:59,120 Speaker 1: laser to Detroit planets, then I think that is possible. Okay, 843 00:42:59,320 --> 00:43:03,719 Speaker 1: that gets your ruble. I guess that's in the ridiculous, 844 00:43:04,040 --> 00:43:08,959 Speaker 1: huge waste of money but potentially possible category. Well, here's 845 00:43:08,960 --> 00:43:10,640 Speaker 1: a question for you, Daniel, how do you know that 846 00:43:10,760 --> 00:43:14,160 Speaker 1: the Death Star used lasers? You're right, it could have 847 00:43:14,239 --> 00:43:17,160 Speaker 1: been you know, projections of the force or some other 848 00:43:17,239 --> 00:43:21,120 Speaker 1: sort of like weird plasma thing. I'm not sure they 849 00:43:21,160 --> 00:43:25,520 Speaker 1: technically call it a laser, right or anything. It's just 850 00:43:25,600 --> 00:43:29,160 Speaker 1: a weapon, that's true. Um, what do they call it? 851 00:43:29,280 --> 00:43:31,440 Speaker 1: They call it the energy beam. Now we need another 852 00:43:31,520 --> 00:43:35,520 Speaker 1: excuse to go back and watch that movie. I'm sure 853 00:43:35,560 --> 00:43:39,080 Speaker 1: we can just post a question online and a few 854 00:43:39,120 --> 00:43:41,959 Speaker 1: people who have maybe seen the movie a few times, 855 00:43:42,239 --> 00:43:45,680 Speaker 1: some astro engineering experts. So well, I guess I'm just saying, 856 00:43:45,880 --> 00:43:47,960 Speaker 1: we don't know they're lasers. Maybe it's something else that 857 00:43:48,040 --> 00:43:52,360 Speaker 1: could potentially, um have that cool effect. That's true. And 858 00:43:52,400 --> 00:43:54,600 Speaker 1: if you're gonna be in another science fiction universe where 859 00:43:54,600 --> 00:43:57,440 Speaker 1: the laws of physics are different and weird magical ancient 860 00:43:57,480 --> 00:44:00,360 Speaker 1: religions are real, then hey, maybe you can do anything 861 00:44:00,400 --> 00:44:02,360 Speaker 1: you like. Well, it seems like the answer for Josh 862 00:44:02,440 --> 00:44:05,240 Speaker 1: here is that it is. Yes, we could maybe build 863 00:44:05,280 --> 00:44:07,680 Speaker 1: a death star. It would just take a lot of 864 00:44:07,760 --> 00:44:11,239 Speaker 1: resources and a little bit of money. Yeah, So don't 865 00:44:11,239 --> 00:44:13,480 Speaker 1: stop working on that project in your garage, Josh, it 866 00:44:13,560 --> 00:44:18,440 Speaker 1: will work out or no, please please do stop if 867 00:44:18,480 --> 00:44:21,120 Speaker 1: you're trying to build a laser that destroys the earth. Please. 868 00:44:21,239 --> 00:44:23,120 Speaker 1: I'm assuming Josh is going to be a good guy 869 00:44:23,200 --> 00:44:25,400 Speaker 1: with a death star. Oh, I see he's pointing at 870 00:44:25,440 --> 00:44:29,480 Speaker 1: Outwards and all the bad guys with death stars. All right, 871 00:44:29,600 --> 00:44:32,400 Speaker 1: So those were two great questions. Thank you to Josh 872 00:44:32,600 --> 00:44:36,080 Speaker 1: and to Glenn for submitting their questions to us via 873 00:44:36,360 --> 00:44:39,840 Speaker 1: Twitter and email, and those of you listening, if you 874 00:44:39,960 --> 00:44:42,400 Speaker 1: have a question that you would like to answer to, 875 00:44:43,000 --> 00:44:45,640 Speaker 1: Daniel will read your email and your messages and we 876 00:44:45,760 --> 00:44:49,000 Speaker 1: might even answer it on the podcast. And you don't 877 00:44:49,040 --> 00:44:51,239 Speaker 1: even need to shoot us with your death star or 878 00:44:51,280 --> 00:44:54,960 Speaker 1: give us any baby black holes. But thank you everybody 879 00:44:55,040 --> 00:44:58,240 Speaker 1: for continuing to send in your questions. They're wonderful, they're stimulating, 880 00:44:58,280 --> 00:45:00,160 Speaker 1: there a lot of fun, and we love an ring 881 00:45:00,200 --> 00:45:03,200 Speaker 1: them here on the podcast. Yeah, keep asking questions. See 882 00:45:03,239 --> 00:45:13,359 Speaker 1: you next time. Thanks for tuning in. Before you still 883 00:45:13,480 --> 00:45:16,400 Speaker 1: have a question after listening to all these explanations, please 884 00:45:16,719 --> 00:45:18,719 Speaker 1: drop us a line. We'd love to hear from you. 885 00:45:19,040 --> 00:45:21,839 Speaker 1: You can find us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram at 886 00:45:22,200 --> 00:45:25,279 Speaker 1: Daniel and Jorge That's one word, or email us at 887 00:45:25,600 --> 00:45:29,280 Speaker 1: Feedback at Daniel and Jorge dot com. Thanks for listening, 888 00:45:29,320 --> 00:45:32,040 Speaker 1: and remember that Daniel and Jorge Explain the Universe is 889 00:45:32,080 --> 00:45:35,560 Speaker 1: a production of I Heart Radio. For more podcast from 890 00:45:35,600 --> 00:45:38,680 Speaker 1: my Heart Radio, visit the i heart Radio app Apple 891 00:45:38,760 --> 00:45:41,800 Speaker 1: Podcasts or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.