High School Atoms, Black Holes: Solving 2 Problems with 1 Theory?

[tony169]

TL;DR

Are black holes atoms?

The laws of physics breaks down at an atomic level, it also breaks down around black holes.

could the two be related? could a black hole be an atom with a periodic number in the (insert ridiculous number here) ?

If it were true that black holes where atoms / elements it'd turn two problems into one.

 

[Drakkith]

The laws of physics breaks down at an atomic level

No they don't. The known laws of physics don't break down until well below the scale of atoms. Atomic-scale interactions and behavior are extremely well known and our theories make extremely accurate predictions at that scale.

could the two be related? could a black hole be an atom with a periodic number in the (insert ridiculous number here) ?

No, absolutely not. Atoms can't have more than a certain number of protons in their nuclei without becoming unstable due to the repulsion of said protons. So once you reach lead, anything after it is unstable, and the general trend is a decreasing stability as atomic number increases. That's why the elements with the largest known atomic numbers are so hard to synthesize and study. They all decay in fractions of a second!

 

[tony169]

With respect, we really have no clue about the infinitely small and the infinitely massive, math does not work here.

But if matter in a black hole is compacted into infinite density, would that not be an atomic core?

 

[Drakkith]

With respect, we really have no clue about the infinitely small and the infinitely massive, math does not work here.

We are talking about neither infinitely small things nor infinitely massive things. Atoms and subatomic particles have non-zero interaction ranges (I say that instead of 'size' because size is a complicated issue when it comes to fundamental particles) while black holes do not have infinite mass.

But if matter in a black hole is compacted into infinite density, would that not be an atomic core?

No, not at all. The nucleus of an atom is comprised of protons and neutrons in a bound state, which are themselves composed of quarks and gluons. Just looking at a neutron star we run into a situation where we find a 'sea' of free neutrons and protons in the middle regions of the star and quite possibly a quark-gluon plasma in the middle of the core. Neither of these match the conditions of an atomic nucleus.

The conditions inside a black hole are even more extreme, and are likely to create states of matter that we've never seen before and that are nothing like atomic nuclei.

 

[russ_watters]

With respect, we really have no clue about the infinitely small and the infinitely massive, math does not work here.

But if matter in a black hole is compacted into infinite density, would that not be an atomic core?

No, and no.

You're speculating wildly and apparently not interested in learning what is actually known, where it differs from your speculations. No point in continuing. Thread locked.