The general theory of relativity was published more than a century ago by physics, to refine Isaac Newton’s law of universal gravitation. Providing a uniform description of gravity as a geometric property of space and time, as space-time, this model is still used today by scientists as a description of gravity in modern physics. Einstein’s theory has important astrophysical implications, as it refers to the existence of black holes – cosmic phenomena in which space and time are distorted in such a way that nothing, not even light, can escape.
Now, scientists theorize that it may be possible to make a black hole in a particle collider, but it would have to break Einstein’s rules.
Presenter Hank Green revealed during a recent episode on the SciShow YouTube channel how the idea first came about.
He said: “There was a lot of excitement when the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) first entered Switzerland.
“The particle accelerator was the greatest ever made, representing decades of work by thousands of people and he promised to discover some of the deepest mysteries of the universe.
Albert Einstein’s theory could be challenged (Image: GETTY)
The general theory of relativity was published more than a century ago by physics (Image: GETTY)
‘But some were not so excited.
‘In fact, they were afraid that the LHC would make a black hole and destroy the Earth.
“That was not true and the fear was the result of rumors, but there was actually a kernel of truth to this idea.”
Mr Green went out of his way to explain why some scientists think the idea might still be possible.
He added: ‘After all, there are some theoretical physicists who believed that the LHC could make a black hole – it would just be a sub-microscopic one that fissures immediately.
“But even though the accelerator has not yet found any of these micro-black holes, it is still thought that perhaps the next generation of particle accelerators will be able and if they can, that would provide evidence for some fascinating ideas in theoretical physics.
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Some experts were worried that the collider could make a black hole (Image: GETTY)
“We talk about things like extra spatial dimensions.
‘The basis of this idea is that black holes are not just things in space, they are a natural consequence of Einstein’s theory of general relativity.
“The theory tells us that matter tolerates the dust of space, and the more matter there is in a region of space, the more it sheds its surroundings and brings nearby objects closer.”
Mr. Green went into more detail about the theory and where Einstein fits it all.
He went on to say: ‘If there is a lot of dust in a very small volume, the space is distorted so that it becomes impossible to get away from the case if you get too close – that is a black hole.
‘While they usually form when large stars fall into each other, they can technically form at any moment that there is enough dust in a small area, so it is possible to get something really small.
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Some scientists still believe that hitting particles together could create small black holes (Image: GETTY)
The possibility would challenge current understanding of physics (Image: GETTY)
“In many of its experiments, the LHC collects extremely light particles – protons – really fast, allowing us to learn all sorts of things about what happens when particles collide.
“But those super-fast protons have a lot of energy for their size, and that’s a great thing when it comes to black holes.
“In the LHC’s high-energy collisions, mass and energy actually become interchangeable and that’s the point of Einstein’s famous E = MC2 – it says that mass is proportional to energy.”
But, the presenter explained why such a breakthrough would challenge the foundations of physics.
He said last month: “So, theoretically, if you get some super fast moving particles really close together, then the energy of that motion in one place can act as a lot of mass and be enough to form a black hole.
“The problem is, with our current understanding of physics, that can’t happen at the LHC.
“To make the lightest black hole, the particles would each need about 10 quintillion electron volts of energy and the LHC could get particles up to 14 trillion electron volts.
“But there’s a reason some physicists still think this and it’s because these calculations all assume that there are no problems with general relativity.”
According to the show, the theory is not as controversial as it sounds and Mr. Green explained why there is reason to question Einstein’s theory.
He added: “We already know that the theory has problems – it’s very good to make a lot of predictions, but technically it also predicts that it should be possible for places to have infinite density and we know it’s not a thing.
‘What is likely to happen is that general relativity is almost true and that there is a more accurate theory that we do not know about.
“That theory could produce different rules if you have a lot of energy in a really small space, which would solve this problem.
“Right now, scientists think this new theory is likely to be some kind of quantity – a combination of quantum mechanics and relativity and there are already a few candidates.”
