What is the difference between a star and a black hole?

Black holes are astronomical objects that have such strong gravity, not even light can escape. Neutron stars are dead stars that are incredibly dense. Both objects are cosmological monsters, but black holes are considerably more massive than neutron stars.

What is the radius of the event horizon?

The more precise name for the event horizon is the Schwarzschild Radius, named after Karl Schwarzschild. The formula for the Schwarzschild Radius is Rs = 2GM/c^2. “G” represents the gravitational constant (6.67 x 10^-11 m^3/(kg x s^2), “M” is the mass of the black hole, and “c” is the speed of light (3 x 10^8 m/s).

What does singularity mean in astronomy?

A singularity is a region of space where the curvature of spacetime becomes infinite. Singularities are regions of space where the density of matter, or the curvature of spacetime, becomes infinite. In such locales, the standard concepts of space and time cease to have any meaning.

What determines if a star becomes a neutron star or a black hole?

If it is less than about three solar masses it remains as a neutron star. If the neutron star is more than about three solar masses then the pressure exceeds the neutron degeneracy pressure. This causes the neutron star to collapse into a black hole.

How does a star turn into a black hole?

Most black holes form from the remnants of a large star that dies in a supernova explosion. (Smaller stars become dense neutron stars, which are not massive enough to trap light.) When the surface reaches the event horizon, time stands still, and the star can collapse no more – it is a frozen collapsing object.

What happens to the neutrons when a star’s core collapses?

However, if the original star was very massive (say 15 or more times the mass of our Sun), even the neutrons will not be able to survive the core collapse and a black hole will form! IV. More about the Stellar Endpoints

What would happen if a human fell into a black hole?

A human falling into a black hole will also experience tidal forces. In most cases these will be lethal! The difference in acceleration between the head and feet could be many thousands of Earth Gravities. A person would literally be pulled apart!

What are black holes and tidal forces?

Black Holes and Tidal Forces 6. A tidal force is a difference in the strength of gravity between two points. The gravitational field of the moon produces a tidal force across the diameter of Earth, which causes the Earth to deform. It also raises tides of several meters in the solid Earth, and larger tides in the liquid oceans.

What happens when the core of a star becomes essentially just iron?

However, when the core becomes essentially just iron, it has nothing left to fuse (because of iron’s nuclear structure, it does not permit its atoms to fuse into heavier elements) and fusion ceases. In less than a second, the star begins the final phase of its gravitational collapse.