I was watching a programme on Stephen Hawking the other day about his theories regarding black holes.
It was pretty interesting, with discussion aimed around hypothesizing and theorizing about what happens at the edge of a black hole. Why they give off radiation, why no light escapes from them, why they're not just destroying everything in their vicinity, etc.
The thing that got me was the explanation of how and why they give off radiation.
At the event horizon (and everywhere else in space) it is said that particles are appearing and disappearing constantly. These particles are in pairs. The theory states that one of the pair falls into the black hole and one of the pair escapes. The one escaping being of positive mass, the other being of negative mass.
Now, it might just be the way the documentary described it, but I can't get my head around how a particle can have negative mass. I know mass doesn't strictly equal weight... but I'm still not getting it.
I have heard of, read up on, and vaguely understand the concept of antimatter and dark matter. Is that what this would have to be?
It was pretty interesting, with discussion aimed around hypothesizing and theorizing about what happens at the edge of a black hole. Why they give off radiation, why no light escapes from them, why they're not just destroying everything in their vicinity, etc.
The thing that got me was the explanation of how and why they give off radiation.
At the event horizon (and everywhere else in space) it is said that particles are appearing and disappearing constantly. These particles are in pairs. The theory states that one of the pair falls into the black hole and one of the pair escapes. The one escaping being of positive mass, the other being of negative mass.
Now, it might just be the way the documentary described it, but I can't get my head around how a particle can have negative mass. I know mass doesn't strictly equal weight... but I'm still not getting it.
I have heard of, read up on, and vaguely understand the concept of antimatter and dark matter. Is that what this would have to be?
