Yahoo Answers is shutting down on 4 May 2021 (Eastern Time) and the Yahoo Answers website is now in read-only mode. There will be no changes to other Yahoo properties or services, or your Yahoo account. You can find more information about the Yahoo Answers shutdown and how to download your data on this help page.

Black holes and wormholes?

why do people say that black holes and wormholes are practically the same things? or that wormholes could be created as a result of black holes?

I know what each are, and to me, they seem very different. But how does something that could crush you into nothing but energy (black hole) also be able to transport you to another place/time unharmed (theoretically of course)? ...And this is not a rhetorical question, by the way

6 Answers

Relevance
  • ?
    Lv 4
    1 decade ago
    Favourite answer

    The reason that black holes and wormholes are very closely related is that they both bend the fabric of spacetime via gravity. A black hole occurs when an object (usually a star) collapses to the point where it is so dense that it actually "tears" spacetime. The inside of this tear is what is known as a black hole.

    You can imagine spacetime as a rubber sheet stretched across a room. A massive object in space has a similar effect on spacetime as a massive object does when placed on the sheet; it bends the sheet a bit. You could imagine our Earth like a marble, or our Sun like a bowling ball. Heavier objects bend the sheet more.

    Now, in this analogy, a black hole would be like a very heavy object. It would bend the sheet very far and eventually break it, leaving a hole (though this analogy breaks down here, since spacetime would retain its bent shape even after being punctured, unlike the sheet).

    Now imagine that there are two sheets parallel next to each other (representing two regions of space), and each has a massive object on it bending it toward the other sheet. If the objects are heavy enough, they may break their sheets as before, but in the case of spacetime, these two holes may be able to connect in order to form a sort of tunnel. You could imagine poking a hole in the two rubber sheets, and then connecting the edges of the two holes to each other. This would be like a wormhole in spacetime. If it were stable enough, spacetime would have a "tunnel" in it allowing objects to pass through to an entirely different region of space.

    This is all purely theoretical, though. Wormholes have never been observed, and it is unlikely that they ever will, since it is unlikely that one could be stable enough to last very long.

  • 1 decade ago

    I read a book that mentioned something about this, it was a while ago but ill try my best. We are still not sure what lies within a black hole as past the event horizon we cannot see anything as not even light can escape the gravity. But there are many theories as to what is there. All the calculations of the conventional black hole lead to a singularity (infinite gravity). seeing as this is impossible there must be something missing. It is theorized that black holes spin, fast. this could cause a distortion of space time leading to a wormhole. there are other theories which i cant remember but if you want to look further into it i would recommend a book called "Parallel Worlds" by Michio Kaku :)

  • 1 decade ago

    I don't think black holes are anything like wormholes.

    The fact is, Aliens are visiting Earth. Since it is unlikely they traveled 10+ light years to get here, wormholes MUST exist.

    According to a former military person familiar with Alien visitations, and his past has been heavily investigated and he is who he says he is, he says Aliens can travel the equivalent of 100 light years in about 1 hour 45 minutes real Earth time by traveling through traversable wormholes.

  • Anonymous
    1 decade ago

    Quantum theory shows that some energy particles spontaneously disappear and then reappear somewhere completely incalculable. You're talking about the black hole/white hole suggestion which implies that black holes may form worm holes, and because of that, comply with quantum theory to sponteneosly distribute matter/energy. Worm holes are just a speculation. None have ever been detected. It has been the dream of many scientists for decades to unify quantum theory and general relativity, but as of yet only small breakthroughs (such as Hawking radiation) have been made. To be able to explain what actually happens at the singularity of a black hole would unify the theories, and explain quantum gravity, thus unifying quantum theory and general relativity.

  • Anonymous
    1 decade ago

    You are right wormholes can take u to a place faster than the speed of light and blackholes will crush you once u actually get there but you will end up in a different dimension

  • Will
    Lv 7
    1 decade ago

    First off, wormholes are 100% theoretical, so people can say pretty much anything that they like about them. But this wikipedia page gives a better explanation and discussion of them than I ever could, so I recommend you try this:

Still have questions? Get answers by asking now.