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Can anyone make a black hole in a laboratory? – Sohini B., age 13, Kolkata, West Bengal, India

Can anyone make a black hole in a laboratory? – Sohini B., age 13, Kolkata, West Bengal, India

A black hole is an object so massive and dense that even light cannot escape its gravity. They occur in space when extremely dense objects, such as the centers of stars, collapse.

All the black holes observed in space are the products of natural processes and are very far away.

As an astronomer, I study how black holes interact with their surroundings. Creating a black hole in a lab would be an amazing opportunity to learn more about how the universe works. But is it even possible?

What does it take to make a black hole?

Any amount of mass can be turned into a black hole if you cram it into a small enough space, but you would need an extremely high density, or mass per volume, to create one on Earth. Water has a density of 1 gram per cubic centimeter. That’s about 8 pounds per gallon. The densest common element, lead, is 11 times denser. That’s still nowhere near dense enough to make a black hole. To do so, gravity needs to overcome the very strong forces that create bonds inside atoms and give matter its structure.

Objects in space........

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