How to get rid of a Black Hole.

[Secret world leader (shhh)]

So I have this idea for a short story. It mainly involves a mission by astronauts to get rid of a Rogue Black Hole (that's a Black Hole that moves, incase you didn't know) that will swallow up the Earth and Sun if it isn't stopped. How would one hypothetically do this?

My current idea is a bomb so powerful that (with a touch of space-magic) it counteracts the gravitational force of the Black Hole and basically fizzles it out. But I then thought that such a bomb would have to infinitely powerful, and an infinitely powerful explosion would just blow up the universe.

So, hypothetically, how do you think we could solve this problem?

 

[hermes]

If a black hole was moving towards Earth, there is only one reasonable thing to do... Bend over and kiss your ass good bye...

A bomb to defuse a black hole is beyond a touch of space magic. It would need the equivalent of all the space magic from The Core, The Day The Earth Stood Still, Armageddon, 2012 and every sci-fi made for TV movie, combined.

Sorry, but other than a massive exodus (and some space magic), there is absolutely nothing I can think of that could stop a black hole...

 

[Luftwaffles]

Obviously you make a bigger black hole to consume the smaller one.

Problem solved. Next.

 

[Popadoo]

Create a wormhole and make it some other solar system's problem?

 

[DoPo]

Obviously you make a bigger black hole to consume the smaller one.

Problem solved. Next.

Well, I think it's recursive since then - how do I get rid of a black hole is the next problem.

OT: Well, make black holes behave differently in your universe. And counteract that. Maybe they are actual rips in the fabric of the universe and they can be "patched". Or whatever alternative interpretation you get for them.

 

[ReadyAmyFire]

I don't think it could be solved. Krauss' book, which I've just finished, describes a method by which a black hole can shrink and lose mass until it 'evaporates' (can't remember if that's the word he used).

 

[Keoul]

If it's sci-fi you could have earth put in a pocket dimension or something, and then when we return, oh no everything is gone the black hole ate eeevveerrryyytthhiinnngggg. Add a morale and you're finished.

 

[Froggy Slayer]

Why try to stop the black hole? Just move the solar system out of its way. Much easier.

We should take the Earth...and push it SOMEWHERE ELSE!

 

[GoAwayVifs]

I don't think it could be solved. Krauss' book, which I've just finished, describes a method by which a black hole can shrink and lose mass until it 'evaporates' (can't remember if that's the word he used).

It was probably Hawking radiation. Which is actually a thing. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawking_radiation]

 

[Secret world leader (shhh)]

Obviously you make a bigger black hole to consume the smaller one.

Problem solved. Next.

Well, I think it's recursive since then - how do I get rid of a black hole is the next problem.

OT: Well, make black holes behave differently in your universe. And counteract that. Maybe they are actual rips in the fabric of the universe and they can be "patched". Or whatever alternative interpretation you get for them.

In this universe, Black Holes are not naturally occuring things, so I guess that should immediately make them different.

If a black hole was moving towards Earth, there is only one reasonable thing to do... Bend over and kiss your ass good bye...

A bomb to defuse a black hole is beyond a touch of space magic. It would need the equivalent of all the space magic from The Core, The Day The Earth Stood Still, Armageddon, 2012 and every sci-fi made for TV movie, combined.

Sorry, but other than a massive exodus (and some space magic), there is absolutely nothing I can think of that could stop a black hole...

The idea is that the Black Hole is created by a thing that implodes and becomes a black hole, the device to stop it is one of those, but reversed. They are of equal power and should cancel eachother out. It doesn't entirely matter if they do or don't, the device never actually explodes, i'm just trying to have a reasonably plausible setup.

 

[Melon Hunter]

Throw stuff at it. No really, as a black hole absorbs matter, it gradually loses mass due to Hawking radiation, which is caused when a matter-anti-matter pair of particles form spontaneously, one within the event horizon, on without. As there is now a discrepancy in mass in the system, the black hole must lose some of its own mass by emitting radiation (as we know, mass and energy are interchangeable).

So, the more matter goes in, the more mass the hole must lose, until it evaporates altogether. Maybe. I don't think it's been proven, but it at least gives us an excuse to play snooker with planets. Just don't pot the bluish-green one.

 

[Zantos]

This sort of thing is going to be entirely in the realms of space magic and all purpose plot filler. Send some dimensionaughts into the singularity to defeat the demon driving it on it's genocidal mission. About as scientifically accurate as anything else you're going to get, and hella fun!

Or I suppose you could create another black hole of somewhat smaller or larger mass and get them to orbit around a common centre of mass so the mass of the black holes is converted into gravitational wave energy. Seems legit.

 

[Redingold]

Throw stuff at it. No really, as a black hole absorbs matter, it gradually loses mass due to Hawking radiation, which is caused when a matter-anti-matter pair of particles form spontaneously, one within the event horizon, on without. As there is now a discrepancy in mass in the system, the black hole must lose some of its own mass by emitting radiation (as we know, mass and energy are interchangeable).

So, the more matter goes in, the more mass the hole must lose, until it evaporates altogether. Maybe. I don't think it's been proven, but it at least gives us an excuse to play snooker with planets. Just don't pot the bluish-green one.

No...

Hawking radiation occurs spontaneously and at a rate that is inversely proportional to the square of the black hole's mass. Only very small black holes lose mass by way of Hawking radiation, because larger black holes will absorb more radiation from the cosmic microwave background than they emit by Hawking's process and so will increase in mass. The greatest mass that a black hole can have at which it will still emit more radiation than it absorbs is about that of the Earth's moon.

 

[Pfheonix]

So I have this idea for a short story. It mainly involves a mission by astronauts to get rid of a Rouge Black Hole (that's a Black Hole that moves, incase you didn't know) that will swallow up the Earth and Sun if it isn't stopped. How would one hypothetically do this?

My current idea is a bomb so powerful that (with a touch of space-magic) it counteracts the gravitational force of the Black Hole and basically fizzles it out. But I then thought that such a bomb would have to infinitely powerful, and an infinitely powerful explosion would just blow up the universe.

So, hypothetically, how do you think we could solve this problem?

Actually, a Rouge Black Hole is a deep red color at the event horizon, as opposed to the more common Charcoal Black Hole. These Rouge Black Holes are much rarer, and are constantly avoiding materials which will ruin their deep crimson coloration, and so will avoid blues, greens, and yellows, unless it is to counteract the ingestion of those colors. Thus, unless it has had a bad day, the Rouge Black Hole will leave us alone.

Alternatively, if you meant to say rogue, then we will be unable to do anything. There is little to nothing we could day at that point.

 

[GoAwayVifs]

Throw stuff at it. No really, as a black hole absorbs matter, it gradually loses mass due to Hawking radiation, which is caused when a matter-anti-matter pair of particles form spontaneously, one within the event horizon, on without. As there is now a discrepancy in mass in the system, the black hole must lose some of its own mass by emitting radiation (as we know, mass and energy are interchangeable).

So, the more matter goes in, the more mass the hole must lose, until it evaporates altogether. Maybe. I don't think it's been proven, but it at least gives us an excuse to play snooker with planets. Just don't pot the bluish-green one.

No...

Hawking radiation occurs spontaneously and at a rate that is inversely proportional to the square of the black hole's mass. Only very small black holes lose mass by way of Hawking radiation, because larger black holes will absorb more radiation from the cosmic microwave background than they emit by Hawking's process and so will increase in mass. The greatest mass that a black hole can have at which it will still emit more radiation than it absorbs is about that of the Earth's moon.

Even ignoring all the incoming cosmic radiation waiting is really not an option. A very small black hole, say about the mass of the earth would take about 2.1x10[sup]67[/sup] years to evaporate. By constrat the universe is about 14 billion (14x10[sup]9[/sup]) years old.

 

[Melon Hunter]

Throw stuff at it. No really, as a black hole absorbs matter, it gradually loses mass due to Hawking radiation, which is caused when a matter-anti-matter pair of particles form spontaneously, one within the event horizon, on without. As there is now a discrepancy in mass in the system, the black hole must lose some of its own mass by emitting radiation (as we know, mass and energy are interchangeable).

So, the more matter goes in, the more mass the hole must lose, until it evaporates altogether. Maybe. I don't think it's been proven, but it at least gives us an excuse to play snooker with planets. Just don't pot the bluish-green one.

No...

Hawking radiation occurs spontaneously and at a rate that is inversely proportional to the square of the black hole's mass. Only very small black holes lose mass by way of Hawking radiation, because larger black holes will absorb more radiation from the cosmic microwave background than they emit by Hawking's process and so will increase in mass. The greatest mass that a black hole can have at which it will still emit more radiation than it absorbs is about that of the Earth's moon.

I heard it as all black holes gradually evaporating due to Hawking radiation, although this is half-remembered off of a physics poster somewhere in school. What you're saying does make more sense. Still, I'd be prepared to use it as justification for watching Neptune go spiraling into oblivion.

 

[ReadyAmyFire]

It was probably Hawking radiation. Which is actually a thing. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawking_radiation]

That's exactly it. Quantum fluctuations at the event horizon. Thanks for saving me a flick through the book to remember what it was.

 

[teqrevisited]

I've never seen one before - no one has - but I'm guessing it's a white hole.
[sub]This answer definitely isn't serious, but it may be both humorous and, by an astronomically slim chance (pun intended), strangely prophetic.[/sub]