The study reveals what would happen if it was beaten by a small black hole: Sciencealert

In 1974, science fiction author Larry Niven wrote a mystery of murder with an interesting premise: could you kill a man with a small black hole?

I am not going to spoil the story, although I am willing to bet that most people would argue that the answer is clearly that. The intense severity, the forces of the tides and the horizon of the event would surely lead to a messy ending.

But it turns out that the scientific response is a bit more interesting.

On the one hand, it is clear that a large black hole could kill you. On the other hand, a black hole with the mass of a single hydrogen atom is clearly too small to be noticed.

The real question is the critical mass. What minimum size would become a black hole? That is the focus of a new article about the Arxiv.

The study begins with primary black holes. These are theoretical bodies that may have formed in the first moments of the universe and would be much smaller than black stellar dough holes.

Anywhere, from chewed atoms to a mass several times than that of the earth. Although astronomers have never found primary black holes, observations discharge several mass ranges. For example, any primordial black hole less than 10¹² Kg would have already evaporated thanks to Hawking radiation.

Anything bigger than 10²⁰ Kg would have gravitational stars on the Milky Way. As we have not detected these lens effects, at least they must be extremely rare. If they exist at all.

Some theoretical models argue that primordial black holes could be the source of dark matter. If that is the case, the observation limits limit their masses to 10¹³ – 10¹⁹ Kg range, which is similar to the mass range for asteroids.

Therefore, the study focuses on this range and analyzes two effects: tide forces and shock waves.

The forces of the tides occur because the closer you reach a dough, the stronger its severity. This means that a black hole exercises a force differential as it is approaching. So, the question is whether this strength differential is strong enough to tear the meat.

Black asteroid dough holes are lower than a micrometer wide, so even tide forces would cover a small area. If one went through its average section or one of its limbs, there may be some local damage, but nothing fatal. It would be similar to a needle that crosses you.

But if the black hole went through your head, that would be a different story. The forces of the tides could destroy brain cells, which would be much more serious. Since brain cells are delicate, even a strength differential of 10 to 100 nanonewtons could kill you. But that would take a black hole at the highest end of our mass range.

Shock waves would be much more dangerous. In this case, when a black hole entered his body, he would create a wave of density that would extend through you. These shock waves would physically damage the cells and transfer the thermal energy that would do more damage. To create an energy shock wave similar to that of a 22 -caliber bullet, the black hole would only need a mass of 1.4 x 10¹⁴ Kg, which is within the range of possible primary black holes.

So yes, a primary black hole could kill you.

While that is a great story, it would never happen in real life. Even if there are primordial blacks of asteroid dough, their number compared to the immensity of space means that the chances of happening to anyone in their life are less than one in 10 billion.

This article was originally published by Universe today. Read the Original article.