ARTSENSE Acrylics Collection. n# 6.
Black hole.
Acrylic on paper glued on hard wooden panel. Size: 17" x
22" (43 x 59 cm)
A short scientific presentation:
"""A black hole is a region of space that has so much mass concentrated
in it that there is no way for a nearby object to escape its
gravitational pull.
Suppose that you are standing on the surface of a planet. You throw a
rock straight up into the air. Assuming you don't throw it too hard, it
will rise for a while, but eventually the acceleration due to the
planet's gravity will make it start to fall down again. If you threw
the rock hard enough, though, you could make it escape the planet's
gravity entirely. It would keep on rising forever. The speed with which
you need to throw the rock in order that it just barely escapes the
planet's gravity is called the "escape velocity." As you would expect,
the escape velocity depends on the mass of the planet: if the planet is
extremely massive, then its gravity is very strong, and the escape
velocity is high. A lighter planet would have a smaller escape
velocity. The escape velocity also depends on how far you are from the
planet's center: the closer you are, the higher the escape velocity.
Now imagine an object with such an enormous concentration of mass in
such a small radius that its escape velocity was greater than the
velocity of light. Then, since nothing can go faster than light,
nothing can escape the object's gravitational field. Even a beam of
light would be pulled back by gravity and would be unable to escape."""
(Citations from Ted Bunn)
"""Black holes are thought to form from stars or other massive objects
if and when they collapse from their own gravity to form an object
whose density is infinite: in other words, a singularity. During most
of a star's lifetime, nuclear fusion in the core generates
electromagnetic radiation, including photons, the particles of light.
This radiation exerts an outward pressure that exactly balances the
inward pull of gravity caused by the star's mass.
As the nuclear fuel is exhausted, the outward forces of radiation
diminish, allowing the gravitation to compress the star inward. The
contraction of the core causes its temperature to rise and allows
remaining nuclear material to be used as fuel. The star is saved from
further collapse -- but only for a while.
Eventually, all possible nuclear fuel is used up and the core
collapses. How far it collapses, into what kind of object, and at what
rate, is determined by the star's final mass and the remaining outward
pressure that the burnt-up nuclear residue (largely iron) can muster.
If the star is sufficiently massive or compressible, it may collapse to
a black hole. If it is less massive or made of stiffer material, its
fate is different: it may become a white dwarf or a neutron star."""
(Citations from Expo/Science & Industry / Spacetime Wrinkles by
The University of Illinois)
In my vision, the collapse of a star is like the suction of a vacuum
cleaner that would be the size of the star itself and everything is
like glued, at the core of the star, unable to escape.