I've had the idea for this section for a long time, and finally I'm getting down to creating it. This is basically a place where I post various questions that I have regarding various topics that you, the visitor, might be able to answer for me. I don't know everything, and I'm naturally curious about the implications of certain hypothetical situations. Perhaps those more knowledgeable about these subjects than I am could help me arrive at potential or realistic conclusions. So I ask that if you can enlighten me regarding these questions, I would appreciate an E-mail response from you.
On the other hand, maybe these questions intrigue you as well, and you would like the know their solutions yourself. If that is the case, just E-mail me regarding the question of interest and I will (hopefully) E-mail you back with the answer if or when I get it myself.
ASTRONOMY
- Can Electric Repulsion Be Used To Escape A Black Hole?
Elaboration: A black hole's gravity is said to be so strong that a beam of light cannot escape it if it enters the black hole's event horizon. It is also said that a black hole can possess electric charge. Now, imagine that a giant cloud of negatively-charged electron particles is placed near a black hole. Initially, the black hole's gravity will pull the electrons in, causing the singularity to gain more electric charge as more electrons are consumed. Since like charges repel, there should (in my mind at least) be a point at which there is so much negative charge on the black hole that it's electric repulsion with the electron cloud would equalize with the gravitational attraction with the cloud.
Since the forces of electric repulsion and gravitational attraction balance out, shouldn't an electron be capable of entering and exiting the black hole's event horizon, since there are no net forces acting on it? I've read something in regards to a black hole's singularity always being in an object's future when it enters the event horizon. I think that is supposed to keep and object from escaping, but how does that square with the electric repulsion situation I mentioned above?Potential Answer(s): None yet submitted.
METEOROLOGY
- Can A Nuclear Bomb Destroy A Tornado?
Elaboration: Nuclear energy is the most powerful weapon that humans currently wield, but can it down one of nature's most destructive forces? The most powerful nuclear device yet detonated by man had a yield around 50 megatons (far in excess of the bombs that were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki). My current thinking is that a nuclear explosion of such magnitude would immediately disrupt the circulation in the visible part of even an F5 tornado. However, I've heard that the visible part of a tornado may only be 10% of the funnel's actual length (most of it extends into the thundercloud above it).
Would the thunderstorm be able to rebuild the tornado's circulation? Might the intense flux of heat from the blast actually strengthen the thunderstorm?Potential Answer(s): None yet submitted.
PHYSICS
- Would A Wormhole Generate Its Own Gravitational Field?
Elaboration: Wormholes are hypothetical bridges in space-time that connect two potentially distant locations. Wormholes might possibly be used as shortcuts to travel across lightyears of space in short periods of time (if they can be produced, that is). Albert Einstein explained that gravity is caused by the curvature of space-time. Since wormholes represent such an extreme curvature in space-time that it changes the very way that space-time connects to itself, shouldn't they also represent an intense, black hole-like gravitational field? Would wormholes also produce their own Hawking radiation, like black holes do?
Potential Answer(s): None yet submitted.