The internet's most asked questions about black holes - with Kip Thorne

Find out everything you ever wanted to know about black holes, with acclaimed physicist Kip Thorne, consultant on the movie 'Interstellar'.

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00:00 Intro
00:16 Why do black holes exist?
00:53 Why do black holes emit radiation?
02:52 Why do black holes evaporate?
04:04 Why do black holes slow down time?
05:32 Why do black holes look like that?

Kip Thorne is an acclaimed American physicist renowned for his contributions to astronomy, particularly in validating the existence of gravitational waves, and has an extensive body of work, comprising over 150 articles and several books. Among his notable literary works is 'Black holes and time warps: Einstein's outrageous legacy,' which garnered multiple awards. Recognised as a leading authority on Albert Einstein's theory of relativity, Kip serves as a professor at the California Institute of Technology. Additionally, he collaborated with director Christopher Nolan, serving as a science advisor on various feature films, including the critically acclaimed 'Interstellar' released in 2014. In 2017, Kip was honoured with the Nobel Prize in Physics for his pivotal role in the "contributions to the LIGO detector and the observation of gravitational waves," as stated by the official Nobel Prize website.

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[mcolville]

I love that Kip makes a Stephen Hawking joke with the first question and is then delighted to discover it's the CORRECT answer for the next two questions! :D

[rebokfleetfoot]

Hawking radiation is so profound because it is so obvious after being pointed out, it kind of like, hum... the speed of light appears to be constant

[thstroyur]

"But Mum, why do I have to take the trash out?"
"Because Stephen Hawking says you do, child."

[rajahua]

My favourite astrophysicist, Kip literally thought me how to imagine black hole. Keep well, Kip.

[melontusk]

His book "Gravitation" changed my student life. Thank you to Professor Kip Thorne, and Sir Christopher Nolan.

[steviejd]

Dear Kip, you sir an absolute gentleman.

[buddwm]

I think a better explanation of why slow time causes gravity is that you can look at gravity as a field that is analogous to a body of water. If you're on shore running at full speed and your feet hit the water, your feet move slower in the water vs the part of your body that isn't in the water, and the deeper your feet/legs go into the water, the slower they move than parts outside of the body of water.

That's probably not the most accurate way to describe gravity, but it's the way I like to think about it when thinking about how slow time can cause it.

[ovidiu_nl]

Why do black holes X? Because Stephen Hawking said they X!

[mpperfidy]

I'm mildly embarrassed never to have come across Kip. I wish there had been 20 questions.

[narrator]

All I want to know is if we could harness a primordial black hole as an energy source if we find one.
With speculation of an object in our solar system affecting the orbits being one it may be worth study.

[johnjakson]

After watching this video I have a mutch better understanding of how entwined Gravity and Time are that I didn't before. next time I have to blame some mishap on not enough time, I can now thank gravity instead.

[AndrewChuprevich]

I think the anwser is actually pretty simple. Space is a physical entity.

[ZomBeeNature]

If you threw a white hole into a black hole, then would you get a gray hole?

[edtim]

i tought gravity was classified as a "weak force" ? Now you are saying NOTHING can resist the pull of gravity inside of a black hole ?

[TheAlchemistZero]

Black Holes:

Black holes are cosmic zip folders/files; data within is maximally compressed - but not infinitely. It's why black holes vary in size, rather than all being homogeneous.

Eventually when our cosmic tensions ease (heat death), all black holes will express their stored data/information in simultaneity - what humans refer to as 'big bangs'. The infinite cycles of Nature.

[ValidatingUsername]

Imagine a region of space that has so much mass that ALL INFINITESIMAL electromagnetic field lines curve back down into, or more specifically never exit, the schwartzchild radius.

Literally, but only theoretically, no path for light exists from inside the event horizon out into the universe even though the accretion disk, galactic plane, and polar jets are orders of magnitude more energy and mass than the schwartzchild core.

It’s not actually possible for this to occur in such a manner but that’s the claim.

[jonnscott]

There's trillions of black hole out there and space is infinite it so big that man quakes with the thought he can't count it and find way to tax it. Hey, does anyone have Donald's phone number?

[aidejones]

How come the gravity is not effected by the creation of a Black Hole?

[johnjakson]

fusion lost out to gravity, not enough of one to counter the other

[daddust]

Sorry but this is terrible. Hawking radiation isn’t because old radiation needs to get out but because of particles popping in and out of existence at the edge of the black hole, the event horizon. If the particle is really really really lucky it goes out an angle that allows it to escape - the larger the black hole the less likely. This particle subtracts from the black hole’s mass.

He didn’t explain why black holes exist either, just explained how they are created. What about primal black holes as well?

The time and gravity explanations are really out there. Gravity caused by time? What? Dilation isn’t causation.