Pseudoscientists use fantasy art to depict black holes because none have ever been observed (observation is a requirement of the scientific method).
Stephen Smith: BlackMax and Black Arts.
Black holes are undetectable by any instrument, so a computer simulation has been created for the Large Hadron Collider to act as a substitute for observations. ...
Most children are taught in elementary school that dividing by zero is not proper numerical manipulation.
Instead, a flight into the mathematical fantasy of General Relativity was required, where master calculators allowed black holes to become the reified monstrosities that so enamor modern cosmologists and astrophysicists. Cosmologists use the singularity product to describe conditions that existed before the Big Bang, while astrophysicists use it to overcome almost any problem that appears in galaxy studies.
Galaxies spin too fast for a certain theory? There must be a black hole hiding somewhere inside, providing additional, unseen gravitational power. Galaxies emit tremendous quantities of light energy or cosmic rays? There has to be a black hole inside the core, sending out light-years long jets because matter is being compressed and superheated before it falls down into infinite darkness. What else could it be?
All right, so I guess I need to parse somebody named Stephen Smith in addition to Thornhill. Here goes:
ReplyDelete"Black holes are undetectable by any instrument"
Huh? What the heck is he talking about? Even assuming a black hole out in the vacuum of space a spaceship whose trajectory was close enough would be able to detect its existence due to its gravitational field. So this is a big, fat STRAW MAN argument.
"so a computer simulation has been created for the Large Hadron Collider to act as a substitute for observations"
Another WTF moment. It's my understanding there are some predictions that the LHC will produce mini-black holes. If produced they would not "act as a substitute for observations" since they would be intensively observed themselves.
"It is said that in the deepest reaches of space live electromagnetic monsters whose sole duty in the cosmic hegemony is to devour matter and inertia, sucking it down into an infinitely deep maw that masticates space as well, crushing it until nothing, not even a memory remains. Those fantastic, insatiable colossi, inhabiting the most frightening dreams of existence, are known as black holes."
Yet another straw man. Q: If our sun were all of a sudden to become a black hole what would happen to the earth's orbit? A: Absolutely nothing - it would continue along its 365-day orbit as usual. It would not be sucked inexorably down into the black hole. This is perhaps the most widespread misconception concerning black holes.
"Pulses of high-frequency gamma rays, beams of intense ultraviolet light, and belches of explosive energy that span the breadth of the Universe are said to mark their mordant habitations"
That's only in the case that there is a lot of external matter close enough to interact with the black hole. If the black hole is off by itself in outer space none of these effects happen.
"while gravitational forces beyond our ability to measure, or conceive, exert their might on the tensile strength of time itself, twisting it into a hopelessly tangled Möebius knot, where past and future have no meaning."
TENSILE STRENGTH OF TIME ITSELF? ROFLMAO. O.K. Stephen, whatever you say. I think you've been watching too much Stargate. :)
"This is the classic problem of dividing by zero. When factor "x" drops to nothing, dividing 1 by the limiting factor produces an infinite result."
It is well known that our modern laws of physics break down at the singularity for just this reason. That's what makes black holes interesting to study - because they challenge our existing theories of physics.
"Galaxies spin too fast for a certain theory? There must be a black hole hiding somewhere inside, providing additional, unseen gravitational power. Galaxies emit tremendous quantities of light energy or cosmic rays? There has to be a black hole inside the core, sending out light-years long jets because matter is being compressed and superheated before it falls down into infinite darkness. What else could it be?"
A plasma focus, perhaps?
"This example of ironic science—that is, science based on mathematical principles that can only be tested indirectly according to abstract theory—is doomed to failure from an empirical standpoint. No concrete, pragmatic data will be revealed; instead a self-fulfilling prophecy is all that will arise."
Oh, I didn't know that Stephen can predict the future. He already knows that no pragmatic data will be revealed. Why? Because, Stephen comes from the future, the year 2369 to be exact. In the far future they know that black holes don't exist, only plasma foci (focuses?).
Tom Marking,
ReplyDelete"Huh? What the heck is he talking about?"
What instrument have you detected a black hole with?
Your imagination?
"It's my understanding there are some predictions that the LHC will produce mini-black holes."
It's my understanding most predictions are false.
"Q: If our sun were all of a sudden to become a black hole what would happen to the earth's orbit? A: Absolutely nothing - it would continue along its 365-day orbit as usual"
That's because gravitation is a myth and so are black holes.
"TENSILE STRENGTH OF TIME ITSELF? ROFLMAO. O.K. Stephen, whatever you say. I think you've been watching too much Stargate. :)"
Are you saying that time is not a physical object and that therefore time cannot be curved, warped, or have strength?
"It is well known that our modern laws of physics break down at the singularity for just this reason."
Exactly. Your theories break down.
"That's what makes black holes interesting to study - because they challenge our existing theories of physics."
Trust me, from what I can tell you're one of the last people on Earth to challenge a popular theory.
@OIM "What instrument have you detected a black hole with? Your imagination?"
ReplyDeleteCygnus X-1 was detected by X-ray satellites in 1964. Of course, you deny that it is a black hole. I suspect that even if we were to drop you into a black hole you would be denying its existence up until the point of spaghettification. Oh well.
"It's my understanding most predictions are false."
Does that include predictions that the earth will expand in the future?
"That's because gravitation is a myth and so are black holes."
Is the Coulomb force law a myth? It has the same inverse square law as gravitation and the same action at a distance behavior. You can even derive elliptical Keplerian orbits using it. Why is gravitation a myth and the Coulomb force law not a myth?
"Are you saying that time is not a physical object and that therefore time cannot be curved, warped, or have strength?"
Time certainly has no tensile strength.
"Exactly. Your theories break down."
Yes, and so would your EU theories, that is, if they had any quantification behind them at all.
Tom Marking,
ReplyDelete"Cygnus X-1 was detected by X-ray satellites in 1964."
X-rays are not a black hole. X-rays are electromagnetic radiation from electrons. But you don't believe in electricity or electrons so I didn't expect you to know that.
"Does that include predictions that the earth will expand in the future?"
All predictions made by expanding earth theory have come to fruition and been empirically confirmed by observation and experience.
"All marine fossils from 200 million years ago or earlier are found exclusively on continental locations -- just as expanding Earth theory predicts. That's because all large marine environments pre-Jurassic were epicontinental seas -- not oceans. Incredibly, if we deny expanding Earth theory, all the pre-Jurassic oceanic marine fossils must have vanished, along with all pre-Jurassic oceanic crust, as well as all of the fossils of all the trans-Pacific taxa that simply "walked" from one location to the other. Hmmm. Even your mainstream fixist geologist counterparts of the first half of the twentieth century didn't have to accept that many miracles." -- Dennis D. McCarthy, geoscientist, October 2003
"Is the Coulomb force law a myth? It has the same inverse square law as gravitation and the same action at a distance behavior. You can even derive elliptical Keplerian orbits using it. Why is gravitation a myth and the Coulomb force law not a myth?"
I'm beginning to suspect it's also bunk although I'm not an expert.
"Time certainly has no tensile strength."
Don't tell that to a relativist: they'll call you a crackpot, censor you, or devise other creative ad hominem fallacies.
"Yes, and so would your EU theories, that is, if they had any quantification behind them at all."
Do you know what a number is?
@OIM "But you don't believe in electricity or electrons so I didn't expect you to know that."
ReplyDeleteLOL. I guess you missed Anaconda's question where he wanted to know what EM phenomena in outer space that I subsribe to and I gave him 7 specific examples.
@ Tom Marking:
ReplyDeleteMarking states: "Cygnus X-1 was detected by X-ray satellites in 1964."
OilIsMastery has it exactly right.
X-rays were detected that fluctuate.
That doesn't come close to "proving" the source is a so-called "black hole".
We've had this discussion before. There is precious little actual evidence that Cygnus X-1 is a so-called "black hole".
It doesn't help that three different estimates were given for the diameter of Cygnus X-1.
Marking, "black holes" are simply the fanciful product of over active imagninations.
And you drink the Kool-Aid deep.
Marking, you believe in the figment of somebody elses imagination.