Will the Earth become a black hole one day?

By no means can the Earth transform into a black hole. Simply because only stars with large masses can become black holes. Even our sun is not big enough to transform into a black hole. Those stars that around 20 times its mass have the chance to produce a black hole. It cannot happen on planets, such as Earth. As they do not possess a turbulent nuclear reactor in their center, which fuel stars but eventually dwindles down in time.

However, in theory, nearly anything could turn into a black hole. That may happen if the object or entity is squeezed down ample enough to cause such a scenario. So, at what point would our planet transform into a black hole? The answer traces to the Schwarzschild Radius.

The Schwarzschild Radius is a physical parameter prosed from Karl Schwarzchild. He was a well-renowned and respected professor in astrophysics at one of Germany’s major physics research center. At some point, he came across Albert Einstein’s Theory of Relativity. It states that massive objects distort space-time, leading to what we now feel as gravity.

Schwarzchild thought of the idea and deemed a massive object compressed into a small space could warp or bend space-time ample enough that light won’t be able to get out from it. He believed you could derive the radius in which the object transformed into a black hole by doubling the mass of the object (M), multiplying it to the gravitational constant (G), and dividing it by the speed of light (c). Writing it an equation would give us: R=(2GM)/(c^2).

With that, anything can transform into a black hole, given that it will be sufficiently squeezed into small space. That is technical, however, and not practical, which are two different descriptions. While it is known that massive stars produce black holes, it came to a surprise to astronomers after a star forty times the sun’s mass did not create a black hole after its doom.

If we can find giant vise-grip pliers big enough to squeeze a heavenly body, the sun must be compressed to around three kilometers in radius to force it to become a black hole.

What about Earth? Well, it must be compressed into having a radius of only around 8.7 millimeters. Doing so will increase the Earth’s escape velocity, surpassing the velocity of light. Given the fact that nothing can go faster than the speed of light at 300,000 kilometers each second, it would mean nothing can go out from the compressed Earth, which turns it into a black hole.

With that, gravity will enact on Earth, forcing it to continue collapsing until it becomes a singularity or a state of infinite density. Next, the space enveloping it would bend seemingly like a rubber sheet with a steel ball core. The space that encloses the sphere is regarded as the event horizon. Meanwhile, any occurrence inside the sphere would be hidden from anyone outside it as light cannot break out. Without any light escaping, the Earth will be in total darkness – a black hole.

More Readings:

Black hole (Wikipedia)

Event horizon (Wikipedia)

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