The Collapsing Universe: The Story of Black Holes, by Isaac Asimov

255 Pages·2011·9.2 MB·English

by  Isaac Asimov

"PENETRATING"
-SCIENCE DIGEST
"The future of the universe: its possible collapse,
quasars as 'white holes,' space-time 'wormholes,'
and (the) ultimate recycling of the universe . . .
The prolific Dr. Asimov, that one-man publisher's
list, has done it again."
-SMITHSONIAN MAGAZINE
"Stimulating and cogent . . . Asimov proves his
reputation as the dean of popular science
writers. The most abstract and difficult concepts
are made readily comprehensible in prose as
lucid as it is informative."
-TnE Los ANGELES TIMES
"Those with patience to follow Asimov's lead will
discover that they can grasp the significance of
the most exciting discoveries in astronomy in
recent decades."
-ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCi
S#MW
MAIC EMOY
B- PC B
PUBLISHED BY POCKET BOOKS NEW YORK
,,
POCKET BOOKS, a Simon &S chuster division of
GULF & WESTERN CORPORATION
1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, N.Y. 10020
Copyright D 1977 by Isaac Asimov
Published by arrangement with Walker & Company
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 76-53639
All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce
this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever.
For information address Walker & Company,
720 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10019
ISBN: 0-671-81738-8
First Pocket Books printing April, 1978
3rd printing
Trademarks registered in the United States and other countries.
Printed in the U.S.A.
To PHYLLIS AND AL BALK,
WHO WERE THERE ON NOVEMBER 30, 1973

CONTENTS
1 PARTICLES AND FORCES 1
The Four Forces 2
Atoms 8
Density 14
Gravitation 18
2 THE PLANETS 29
The Earth 29
The Other Planets 35
Escape Velocity 40
Planetary Density and Formation 46
3 COMPRESSED MATTER 55
Planetary Interiors 55
Resistance to Compression 61
Stars 67
Degenerate Matter 73
4 WHITE DWARFS 81
Red Giants and Dark Companions 81
Superdensity 87
Einstein's Red Shift 93
Formation of White Dwarfs 97
vii
viii THE COLLAPSING UNIVERSE
5 EXPLODING MATTER 105
The Big Bang 105
The Main Sequence 112
Planetary Nebulas 119
Novas 124
Supernovas 133
6 NEUTRON STARS 143
Beyond the White Dwarf 143
Beyond Light 147
Pulsars 152
Properties of Neutron Stars 160
Tidal Effects 167
7 BLACK HOLES 179
Final Victory 179
Detecting the Black Hole 186
Mini-Black Holes 196
The Use of Black Holes 202
8 ENDINGS AND BEGINNINGS 207
The End? 207
Wormholes and White Holes 214
Quasars 220
The Cosmic Egg 227
Appendix 1: Exponential Numbers 235
Appendix 2: The Metric System 237
Appendix 3: Temperature Scales 239
Index
1
PARTICLES
AND
FORCES
SINCE 1960 the universe has taken on a
wholly new face. It has become more exciting,
more mysterious, more violent, and more extreme
as our knowledge concerning it has suddenly ex-
panded. And the most exciting, most mysterious,
most violent, and most extreme phenomenon of
all has the simplest, plainest, calmest, and mildest
name-nothing more than a "black hole."
A hole is nothing, and if it is black, we can't
even see it. Ought we to get excited over an in-
visible nothing?
Yes-if that black hole represents the most ex-
treme state of matter possible, if it represents the
possible end of the universe, if it represents the
possible beginning of the universe, if it represents
new physical laws and new methods for circum-
venting what had previously been considered ab-
solute limitations.
In order to understand the black hole, however,
we must begin at the beginning and work our way
toward it step by step.
I