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Black holes actually green: official
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/04/25/black_holes_green/ ^ | Tuesday 25th April 2006 | Lester Haines

Posted on 04/25/2006 11:59:58 PM PDT by nickcarraway

Scientists studying the energy output of black holes have discovered to their surprise that "the conversion of energy by matter falling toward a black hole is much more efficient than nuclear or fossil fuels" - so much so that "if a car was as fuel-efficient as these black holes, it could theoretically travel more than a billion miles on a gallon of gas".

That's according to boffins at the Chandra X-Ray Observatory, who studied the inner regions of nine elliptical galaxies with a view to determining the rate at which gas is being sucked towards said galaxies' supermassive black holes.

As the gas falls towards the event horizon, it releases energy in the form of high-energy particles which stream away in jets from a "magnetised gaseous disk" encompassing the black hole's core (see pic). These jets then form enormous "bubbles" far out into space.

The question for the Chandra team was how much energy would be required for the jets to produce these bubbles, in some cases thousands of light years across? The answer, according to Steve Allen of Stanford University, is a trillion trillion trillion watts.

The upshot of this fuel-efficient conversion rate, Reuters notes, is that big black holes theoretically have enough gas to keep firing for hundreds of billions of years, way beyond the current estimated age of the universe - a modest 13.7bn years.

A knock-on effect of the black holes' emissions, says Kim Weaver of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Centre, is that the outpouring of energy heats up the gas surrounding the galactic centre, thereby preventing stars from forming from cooling gaseous matter.

Weaver said: "This is one way to keep the stars from forming and letting the galaxies grow bigger."


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Extended News; Foreign Affairs; Miscellaneous; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: astronomy; astrophysics; blackhole; physics; science
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1 posted on 04/25/2006 11:59:59 PM PDT by nickcarraway
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To: nickcarraway

add this to the 'theoretical bs ping'


2 posted on 04/26/2006 12:06:06 AM PDT by kinoxi
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To: nickcarraway

But "green hole" just doesn't have that spooky unknown mystery feel to it.


3 posted on 04/26/2006 12:08:25 AM PDT by pcottraux (It's pronounced "P. Coe-troe.")
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To: nickcarraway

So when's my truck going to run on green holes?


4 posted on 04/26/2006 12:12:27 AM PDT by Dallas59
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To: pcottraux
But "green hole" just doesn't have that spooky unknown mystery feel to it.

Maybe for you--every time I see a Green hole open like this, MY skin crawls...

5 posted on 04/26/2006 12:12:44 AM PDT by LibertarianInExile ('Is' and 'amnesty' both have clear, plain meanings. Are Billy Jeff and the President related?)
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...."if a car was as fuel-efficient as these black holes, it could theoretically travel more than a billion miles on a gallon of gas"......

Yeah, but it would eventually suck everything within five hundred thousand miles of it into it, and spit them out ten million miles from where they wanted to go.

What good would that be?

6 posted on 04/26/2006 12:59:22 AM PDT by LegendHasIt
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To: nickcarraway
What will those "boffins" come up with next?
7 posted on 04/26/2006 1:24:06 AM PDT by BigBobber
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To: LegendHasIt

exactly


8 posted on 04/26/2006 1:25:00 AM PDT by kinoxi
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To: LegendHasIt

If we are paying those "brains" to come up with this stuff, I want them to give me the MPG ratings for a Hummer worm hole.


9 posted on 04/26/2006 2:54:03 AM PDT by Thebaddog (Dogs are from Mars.)
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To: nickcarraway

10 posted on 04/26/2006 3:34:42 AM PDT by Jaxter ("Vivit Post Funera Virtus")
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To: nickcarraway

Romulan spacecraft are powered by the creation of an artificial singularity.


11 posted on 04/26/2006 4:10:20 AM PDT by 50sDad (ST3d: Real Star Trek 3d Chess: http://my.ohio.voyager.net/~abartmes/tactical.htm)
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To: nickcarraway
For the love of Pete, get the black hole hybrid cars on the market RIGHT NOW! At 1 billion mpg, I will laugh at $4 gasoline.

How hard could this be? Obviously BIG OIL is blocking this technology.
12 posted on 04/26/2006 4:36:01 AM PDT by SampleMan
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To: nickcarraway

The heating effect that keeps stars from forming means that a galaxy will last much longer than previously thought.

And you guys whining about the gas mileage and stuff are driving the wrong vehicle to start with. You need a Galaxy.


13 posted on 04/26/2006 4:44:10 AM PDT by NicknamedBob (I don't want a World with empty dreams ... Dump the 1967 Outer Space Treaty Now!...Farm Mars!)
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To: nickcarraway

What's a "boffin"?...........


14 posted on 04/26/2006 5:17:00 AM PDT by Red Badger (In warfare there are no constant conditions. --- The Art of War by SunTzu)
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To: Red Badger
Boffin <--Mash here.
15 posted on 04/26/2006 5:20:06 AM PDT by PeaceBeWithYou (De Oppresso Liber! (50 million and counting in Afganistan and Iraq))
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To: NicknamedBob

The ultimate RV/UAV. ;-)

16 posted on 04/26/2006 5:36:58 AM PDT by PeaceBeWithYou (De Oppresso Liber! (50 million and counting in Afganistan and Iraq))
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To: pcottraux

But..it aint easy...being green.


17 posted on 04/26/2006 7:53:17 AM PDT by silverleaf (Fasten your seat belts- it's going to be a BUMPY ride.)
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To: Dallas59
So when's my truck going to run on green holes?

This has been investigated and found to be largely impractical for personal transportation devices. True, the blackgreen hole is incredibly efficient, but with the equipment necessary to contain (via magnetic fields) and safeguard (wouldn't want a bunch of the green holes losing containment and end up cruisin through the earth, slowly devouring it) the aparatus, your car would be approximately 5 times bigger than a H1 Humvee. Roads would need to be widened somewhat to accomodate them.

Grants have been applied for investigation on the practicality of using these power sources in conjunction with new advances in matter transmitter technology.


I'll keep FR updated as we bring these systems on line.

18 posted on 04/26/2006 9:04:20 AM PDT by zeugma (Anybody who says XP is more secure than OS X or Linux has been licking toads.)
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To: kinoxi
add this to the 'theoretical bs ping'

And your personal expertise to back up that asinine statement is...?

Or, do you base your remark on a "stuck on stupid" misinterpretation of Genesis?

19 posted on 04/26/2006 9:11:53 AM PDT by TXnMA (Remember the Alamo! Remember Goliad! Repeat San Jacinto!)
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To: TXnMA



If in fact they are able to determine the efficiency of matter to energy transition... Could they not now be able to determine with some degree of accuracy what size the true elemental building block of matter truly is?


20 posted on 04/26/2006 4:53:26 PM PDT by yankeedame ("Oh, I can take it but I'd much rather dish it out.")
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