Two physicists conducted research on how to obtain energy from black holes. It turns out that small black holes could theoretically be used as a power source. The scientific media “Science Alert” is reporting on this surprising research result.
*Category:Science Science *Source:Science Alert ,arXiv
Possibility of black holes becoming energy sources
Ultra-dense objects like black holes can act as rechargeable batteries or nuclear reactors, producing giga-electron volt-scale It is said that it has the potential to supply energy.
The energy extracted does not come from inside the black hole, but from just outside the black hole, where the strongest gravitational force in the universe is concentrated. It is believed that there are many black holes in the universe, but finding them is not easy. It has been suggested that the mass of a black hole ranges from about five times that of the Sun to several tens of billions of times that of the Sun.
However, it is thought that there is another mass class of black holes. It is called a primordial black hole, which may be spatially small to the size of an elementary particle. While stellar-mass black holes form from the collapsed cores of giant dead stars, primordial black holes are thought to have formed from dense regions of primordial plasma that filled the universe after the Big Bang. We don’t know if primordial black holes exist, but if they do, a variety of possibilities open up. One is dark matter, and primordial black holes have been considered a promising candidate.
In this research, we wondered if there was a way to utilize the hollow space-time. Mai and Yang argue:
Taking the fact that the black hole has extremely strong gravitational force, an interesting question arises: considering at least theoretically, could we use the gravitational force of black holes to generate electric energy, i.e. make use of black holes as batteries?In this paper, we argue theoretically that we can use a Schwarzschild black hole as a rechargeable battery.
— Quote:arXiv
Translation: Considering the fact that black holes have extremely strong gravity, an interesting question arises. At least in theory, could we harness the gravity of a black hole to generate electrical energy, or use it as a battery? In this paper, we theoretically argue that Schwarzschild black holes can be used as rechargeable batteries.
Batteries convert non-electrical energy into electrical energy. Nuclear reactors use the power of nuclear reactions to produce energy. And a small black hole could theoretically do both.
But very small black holes have a problem. That’s Hawking radiation. Hawking radiation is the mass lost by a black hole due to the interaction between the black hole’s event horizon and the surrounding quantum field. The smaller a black hole is, the faster it loses mass through Hawking radiation. If the black hole is small enough, it will completely evaporate relatively quickly.
Also, since small black holes swallow matter quickly, it is expected that it will be difficult to extract anything from the surrounding space. The research team thought that it might be possible to replenish and recharge primordial black holes with a certain mass or more in a way that would generate electrical energy. An atomic-sized black hole with a mass of 1015 kg to 1018 kg should be able to generate this energy by replenishing it with charged particles.
The research team calculated that at most, a black hole can convert 25% of its injected mass into energy. This is an efficiency of 25%. Most commercially available solar panels have an efficiency of 23% or less.
They also concluded that black holes can achieve efficiencies similar to nuclear reactors. Their equations show that near a primordial black hole, 25% of the mass of alpha particles produced by radioactive decay is converted into kinetic energy.
These are not things we can actually verify. Even if we knew that black holes existed, we would not be able to obtain primordial black holes or control them. However, this analysis reveals some interesting considerations.
In particular, the researchers believe that the black hole reactor model lies just inside the mass range proposed for dark matter. An intriguing possibility has arisen: perhaps we could harness one of the most mysterious substances in the universe to provide energy.
Read on to find out why astronauts are losing their fingernails.
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