Know that the discovery of gravitational waves is a historical event, but what are gravitational waves in the end?
Recently, scientists officially announced the discovery of gravitational waves emanating from a “seismic seismic” collision between two giant cosmic black holes.
But gravitational waves and cosmic black holes are concepts that only physics enthusiasts can understand. What about ordinary people, we will have to understand these two concepts?
1. Cosmic black holes
Black holes are gravitationally extremely large in the universe, able to suck everything around, including light.
Why does a black hole have such a strong attraction? First of all, it is important to know that a black hole forms after the collapse of a massive star.
A star will have the following stages: to form, to develop into a red giant, then at the end of its life will emit a supernova (supernova). The explosion will cause the mass of matter in the star to collapse, compress into a very narrow space, and that’s when the black hole will form.
For simplicity, imagine holding … soil in the palm of your hand and then squeezing it, stuffed into a box the size of a grain of sand. This will require an extremely high compressive force capable of crushing all forms of material penetrated.
During this time, the condition for a black hole to form is that a star must have a mass 10 times the mass of the Sun. The “stuffing” of such a large amount of matter in too narrow a space is why a black hole has such an attraction.
2. Gravitational waves
Then we will come to gravitational waves. It is a concept of the theory of relativity introduced by Einstein in 1915, in which Einstein believed that the universe was an unfixed space-time and had properties like … swimming pools.
When we touch the water and move, we will see waves of vibrations spreading across the surface of the water. Just like the universe. According to Einstein, the same phenomenon occurs when an object of large mass passes through the universe. This movement will emit energy in the form of waves, and we call it gravitational waves.
In theory, massive objects traveling through the universe such as the Earth and planets all produce gravitational waves. However, it is the same as when we lightly touch the fingertips on the water: the energy emitted is too low and cannot be observed.
It is only when the “fusion” of two cosmic black holes will occur, forming an energy source 50 times the total energy of all the stars in this universe, that humanity will be able to confirm the existence of this phenomenon. .
By confirming the existence of gravitational waves, we also officially confirm one thing: space-time can be bent. Now just imagine that you are in Vietnam and want to play in the United States. Usually the shortest distance is the line the bird flies straight. But with the theory of space bending, we can “fold” the map of the world, bring the United States and Vietnam closer together. It is also the solution to the dream of human space travel.
