I created a Black Hole in my Living Room

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SUMMARY

The discussion centers on the misconception of black holes, initiated by an observation of smoke in sunlight. The user compares the behavior of smoke to the theoretical properties of black holes, questioning if they operate similarly by drawing in light and matter. However, it is clarified that what was observed is merely smoke dispersing, not a black hole phenomenon. The conversation emphasizes that black holes pull in everything, including light, from all directions, and that current astrophysical efforts aim to detect light sources behind black holes to confirm their existence.

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It all started out when I was watching, of all things, Man vs. Food while smoking a cigarette on my couch.

In between my couch and the television is my window, with the blinds closed almost all the way, leaving a little bit of space in the center for light to come through. It was shining on to the other side of the couch.

When I exhaled, I noticed I could only see the smoke that was in the direct way of the sunlight that was shining in my living room. It looked like a flat cloud, really. There was a lot of smoke and I decided to satisfy my urge of childlike behavior, so I blew right in the middle of it all. I then noticed that it began to disappear in the middle, while the outside of the smoke was being drawn in just like all the illustrated black holes I see from documentaries.

Is this truly all a black hole really is? Light shining on to certain objects in a specific part of space, where a force is being made through a certain point to which everything near is being dragged through (i.e. gravity wells)? And we just can't see where they are ending up because, well, there's just no light there to see it? (because it's in the shadow or, behind, everything in front of it that's being dragged through)
 
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No, that's not at all a "black hole". What you saw was smoke being blown away from the center by you and then being replaced by smoke from the outer portion. You couldn't see where that smoke was going because you were looking at it from one side and the smoke was going to the other side.

In a black hole, everything, even light, would be pulled into the hole from all sides and never come out.
 
HallsofIvy said:
No, that's not at all a "black hole". What you saw was smoke being blown away from the center by you and then being replaced by smoke from the outer portion. You couldn't see where that smoke was going because you were looking at it from one side and the smoke was going to the other side.

In a black hole, everything, even light, would be pulled into the hole from all sides and never come out.

In all respect, nobody knows if that's exactly what it does. It's only a theory. It could just not be visible because it's being pulled in and shot out another side, like what the smoke was doing - meaning you're not able to see it (aka never coming out, because we don't see it come out)

What astrophysicists are trying to do right now actually, is find a light source behind a black hole so we can actually "see" one - since nobody has ever actually "seen" a black hole - only its effects.

http://img33.imageshack.us/img33/2263/shadesq.png

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http://img682.imageshack.us/img682/8559/blackhole.png

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http://img403.imageshack.us/img403/4568/result.png
 
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