by Ann » Wed May 18, 2011 6:07 am
As far as I can remember, Stephen Hawking's theory that black holes are going to evaporate sooner or later is built on the idea of virtual particles. The idea is that virtual particles always "pop out of the vaccuum" in pairs, one positively charged, one negatively charged. They instantly meet and annihilate each other, which is what happens when, say, an electron and a positron meet. But in the case of the virtual particles near a black hole, the idea is that one of the virtual particles is sucked into the black hole and annihilated before it can annihilate its "virtual particle brother". The surviving virtual particle therefore has no "partner" that is going to annihilate it, and since it doesn't fall into the black hole like it mate (which is purely due to chance), it is going to change from a virtual particle into a real particle. But this change from "virtual" to "real" takes energy, and according to Hawking, this energy can only be taken from the black hole.
Over time, more and more virtual particle pair are going to "pop up" near the black hole in such a position that one particle is going to fall into the black hole and be annihilated, and the other one will become real by "stealing energy" from the black hole. Eventually, the black hole is going to be sufficiently drained of energy by giving "life" to virtual particles that it is going to evaporate.
Ann
As far as I can remember, Stephen Hawking's theory that black holes are going to evaporate sooner or later is built on the idea of virtual particles. The idea is that virtual particles always "pop out of the vaccuum" in pairs, one positively charged, one negatively charged. They instantly meet and annihilate each other, which is what happens when, say, an electron and a positron meet. But in the case of the virtual particles near a black hole, the idea is that one of the virtual particles is sucked into the black hole and annihilated before it can annihilate its "virtual particle brother". The surviving virtual particle therefore has no "partner" that is going to annihilate it, and since it doesn't fall into the black hole like it mate (which is purely due to chance), it is going to change from a virtual particle into a real particle. But this change from "virtual" to "real" takes energy, and according to Hawking, this energy can only be taken from the black hole.
Over time, more and more virtual particle pair are going to "pop up" near the black hole in such a position that one particle is going to fall into the black hole and be annihilated, and the other one will become real by "stealing energy" from the black hole. Eventually, the black hole is going to be sufficiently drained of energy by giving "life" to virtual particles that it is going to evaporate.
Ann