Is a black hole dangerous

Answer 1

The quick answer would be to say they have an immense gravitational pull, and if you get close enough, past the event horizin, there is no way to escape or survive. They are extremely long lived, they are almost invisible unless they are absorbing an object and, surprisingly, they can be quite fast.

The more indepth answer would be that danger is a subjective term. Black holes certainly can be dangerous, but to us here on earth black holes dont present an immediate threat. The nearest one is 1600 light years away, far too far to exert any gravitational pull. Equally, scientist arent worried about a black hole being formed anywhere close anytime soon. And few scientists are worried about creating artificial black holes; not only would they radiate away far too quickly but ,even if they were stable, they would be too small and lite to 'suck' anything in.

But, having said all that, there is one final way a black hole could be dangerous. Black holes are one of the leading suspects in the creation of 'gamma ray bursts', massive explosions that dwarf even supernovas. If one happened in our galaxy, and was pointed as us, there is a small possibility it could cause an extinction event by messing with the ozone. Several mass-extinction events millions of years ago could possibly have been caused by such a blast.

Luckily there is only 1 of these bursts per 100000 or 1000000 years in our galaxy, and only a few percent of those would be angled at earth. So black holes, whilst certainly dangerous, pose little threat to humans here on earth.

Answer 2

The nearest black hole is so far away that it represents no threat to human beings.

If a person were to travel near a small black hole, tidal forces would tend to shred them. Any matter dropped onto a black hole would be torn apart, liberating x-ray radiation, which in sufficiently high doses is carcinogenic (causes cancer).

Black holes pose virtually no threat to humans. Contrary to popular belief, black holes don't have a super strong gravity until you reach near its Schwarzchild radius which is extremely close (The point of compression wherein photons cannot overcome gravity) and its gravity outside of that is no different from the gravity of its parent and may in fact be less because the supernova blew away the star's entire envelope before it could collapse. As I heard someone say, you'd have to be pretty dumb to get caught in a black hole. A rogue black hole travelling towards anywhere in the solar system is a major problem but the chances of that happening are infinitesimally small.

Answer 3

A black hole is no more dangerous than our Sun.

However, as with both, the closer you get the more dangerous it will get.

With a black hole, the danger zone is known as the event horizon. Stay outside of it and you will be safe, venture too close and cross the line you will be pulled apart like spaghetti

This will occur because the gravitation attraction at your feet will be so much greater than that at your head, that your body will be stretched "like spaghetti

For planets, stars or any other stellar bodies, the forces will be the same. They will be ripped apart.

Quasars are a stellar object that is a black hole feeding off other stellar objects. Some quasars consume a Sun everyday!!!

See related questions for more information

Answer 4

The only legitimate fear of black holes is the fact that they are hard to detect. People are mainly afraid because they do not understand the fundamentals of black holes. Many believe the even horizon of black holes are vastly larger than they are. In reality a black hole's event horizon is not that large. Take a 23,000,000,000 solar mass black hole (Supermassive, galaxies only), like the largest black hole discovered, APM 08279+5255. Its event horizon measures roughly 454 astronomical units in radius. That's roughly 5 times the distance from the Sun to Sedna (Furthest known object in the solar system). That's not much. Now take a black hole, say 10 solar masses. Its event horizon is only 18 miles in radius.

Other reasons are rogue black holes accreting (eating) the Sun or rampaging through the solar system. In reality, the chances of that are extremely slim. There are many black holes but there is a whole lotta space too. Black holes also tend to stay in their original orbit, making them less likely to cause problems for their solar system.

Answer 5

Black holes are dangerous due to their immense gravitational pull, which can trap anything, including light. If an object, like a star or planet, gets too close to a black hole, it can be torn apart by the extreme gravitational forces. However, black holes are typically found far away in space, so the chances of encountering one in everyday life are very low.

Answer 6

No because there is no black hole in proximity of earth and there is no way there would be one. But if a black hole appears next to the earth, it would be VERY dangerous.

Answer 7

Black holes are dangerous because it sucks everything in and i mean everything, the planet, the solar system... etc