Fascinating video shows catastrophic effects a coin-sized back hole would have landing on Earth
A video posted to YouTube has demonstrated exactly what might happen if a black hole the size of a coin were to land on Earth.
We're a morbid lot that love a bit of doomsaying to predict our own untimely ends. Will it be a zombie apocalypse, will AI take over and wipe humanity from the face of the Earth, or could another ice age lead to our extinction? If all of those didn't keep you up at night, what about a terror from space bringing about the end of days.
When it comes to fears from outer space, it's not just aliens wanting to take over like in Mars Attacks! or Independence Day - although Steven Hawking had his own predictions on how we'll bow out.
Some are worried that natural phenomenons like asteroids or black holes will lead to our eventual destruction. If you weren't worried before, a harrowing video shows the effects of what damage a coin-sized black hole could cause on Earth.
Advert
A viral Reddit thread shows the apparent effects of how Earth would be destroyed by a coin-sized black hole, and even though the graphics have since turned out to be an exaggeration, even a tiny black hole could have us sucked into the abyss.
Frank Heile is a particle physicist at the University of Stanford and has previously discussed what would happen if a penny-sized black hole somehow found its way into the Earth's core.
Instead of just collapsing inward, outward pressure and the fact the Earth is spinning would cause parts of the planet to be blasted out into space instead of being sucked in.
Writing on Quora, Heile explained, "When the matter near the black hole begins to fall into the black hole, it will be compressed to a very high density that will cause it to be heated to very high temperatures.
"These high temperatures will cause gamma rays, X-rays, and other radiation to heat up the other matter falling into the black hole."
According to Heile, mass that falls toward the black hole will start spinning out similar to how an ice skater spins faster when they pull in their arms: "This would cause whatever is left of the Earth to essentially orbit the black hole.
"This angular momentum will tend to slow down the fall into the black hole and will eventually result in something like an accretion disc around the black hole."
If there was no outward pressure or spin, it would take around 10-15 minutes for the whole world to be consumed, which gives humanity no chance to escape.
Beyond that, Heile guesses that a penny-sized black hole would double the Earth's mass and effect the orbits of all planets in the solar system.
This thankfully shouldn't be something that any of us have to worry about because creating even a penny-sized black hole on Earth would require a method of condensing mass that we don't have. Also, the nearest known black hole to Earth is 1,000 light-years away.
We don't want to worry you, but even though we're safe for now, there are black holes out there that are referred to as 'stupendously large black holes' (SLABS) and boast the mass of 66 billion suns.
Penny-sized black holes might not be much for us mere humans to be worried about, but when it comes to extraterrestrial menaces already hiding on Earth, consider us spooked.