Black Hole Trivia Quiz Questions With Answers
What is a black hole?
A: A black hole is a mathematically defined region of spacetime that has such a
strong gravitational pull that no particle or electromagnetic radiation can
escape from it.
The theory of general relativity predicts that a
sufficiently compact mass can deform spacetime to form what?
A: A black hole.
The boundary of the region from which no escape is possible
is called the what?
A: The event horizon.
Although crossing the event horizon has enormous effect on
the fate of the object crossing it, it appears to have no what?
A: Locally detectable features.
In many ways a black hole acts like an ideal black body, as
it what?
A: Reflects no light.
What does quantum field theory in curved spacetime predict?
A: That event horizons emit Hawking radiation.
Objects whose gravitational fields are too strong for light
to escape were first considered in the 18th century by whom?
A: John Michell and Pierre-Simon Laplace.
The first modern solution of general relativity that would
characterize a black hole was found by whom in
1916?
A: by Karl Schwarzschild.
A black hole's interpretation as a region of
space from
which nothing can escape was first published by whom in 1958?
A: David Finkelstein.
Long considered a mathematical curiosity, it was during the
1960s that theoretical work showed what?
A: That black holes were a generic prediction of general relativity.
The discovery of neutron stars sparked interest in what?
A: Gravitationally collapsed compact objects as a possible astrophysical
reality.
Black holes of stellar mass are expected to form when
"what" collapse at the end of their life cycle?
A: Very massive stars.
After a black hole has formed, how can it continue to grow?
A: By absorbing mass from its surroundings.
By absorbing other stars and merging with other black
holes, what may form?
A: Supermassive black holes of millions of solar masses.
There is general consensus that supermassive black holes
exist where?
A: In the centers of most galaxies.
In 1915,
Albert Einstein developed his theory of general
relativity, having earlier shown that
gravity does what?
A: Influence light's motion.
Only a few months later, Karl Schwarzschild found a
solution to the Einstein field equations, which describes the gravitational
field of what?
A: A point mass and a spherical mass.
By 1969, pulsars were shown to be rapidly rotating what?
A: Neutron stars.
Until that time, neutron stars, like black holes, were
regarded as what?
A: Just theoretical curiosities.
The discovery of pulsars showed their physical relevance
and spurred a further interest in all types of what?
A: Compact objects that might be formed by gravitational collapse.
In 1963, Roy Kerr found the exact solution for a what?
A: A rotating black hole.
Two years later, Ezra Newman found the axisymmetric
solution for a black hole that is both rotating and what?
A: Electrically charged.
Work by James Bardeen, Jacob Bekenstein, Carter, and
Hawking in the early 1970s led to what?
A: The formulation of black hole thermodynamics.
The first use of the term "black hole" in print was by
whom?
A: Journalist Ann Ewing in her article "'Black Holes' in Space", dated 18
January 1964.
It was a report on a meeting of the what?
A: The American Association for the Advancement of
Science.
John Wheeler used the term "black hole" at a lecture in
1967, leading some to what?
A: Credit him with coining the phrase.
After Wheeler's use of the term, it was quickly what?
A: Adopted into general usage.
The simplest static black holes have mass but not what?
A: Neither electric charge nor angular momentum.
These black holes are often referred to as what?
A: Schwarzschild black holes after Karl Schwarzschild who discovered this
solution in 1916.
According to Birkhoff's theorem, it is the only vacuum
solution that is what?
A: Spherically symmetric.
This means that there is no observable difference between
the gravitational field of such a black hole and that of what?
A: Any other spherical object of the same mass.
The idea of a black hole "sucking in everything" in, is
therefore only correct near a black hole's what?
A: Horizon; far away, the external gravitational field is identical to that of
any other body of the same mass.
Due to the relatively large strength of the electromagnetic
force, black holes forming from the collapse of stars are expected to retain
what?
A: The nearly neutral charge of the star.
Rotation, however, is expected to be a common feature of
what?
A: Compact objects.
The black-hole candidate binary X-ray source GRS
1915+105[42] appears to have an angular momentum near what?
A: The maximum allowed value.
