Naked Science Forum

Non Life Sciences => Physics, Astronomy & Cosmology => Topic started by: tommya300 on 22/08/2010 11:59:52

Title: Is singularity prior to the, big bang, a figure of speech??
Post by: tommya300 on 22/08/2010 11:59:52: Is singularity prior to the, big bang, a figure of speech?

Doesn't a black hole expel plasma from its poles?
Yet it is said to have a singularity?

Can it be an attempt to reach a singularity, and the plasma jets are like squeezing a banana out of its skin, imagining there is no end to the banana’s core?
Title: Is singularity prior to the, big bang, a figure of speech??
Post by: Murchie85 on 22/08/2010 20:30:58: I don't pretend to know a lot about this, as cosmology is a really complex subject although I tend to find the word singularity is used when its origins can't be explained, I believe at the center of a black hole is a singularity as we don't know whats going on there (only theories)
Title: Is singularity prior to the, big bang, a figure of speech??
Post by: Soul Surfer on 22/08/2010 23:29:14: A true singularity is a mathematical and not a physical concept and cannot exist as a physical reality. It is just a way of saying we don't really understand it yet.

The expulsion of material from the region of the poles of a black hole that is active and accreting material is material that is not falling into the hole. It is part of the way that other material falling into a black hole can lose angular momentum in order to get into it. Most people (including many scientists do not realise that it is in fact very difficult to fall into a black hole because they are so tiny that most things have far too much angular momentum with respect to the hole.
Title: Is singularity prior to the, big bang, a figure of speech??
Post by: Murchie85 on 23/08/2010 18:18:05: SoulSurfer that is good info about the angular momentum and glad you verified what I was trying to get at in that a singularity is generally associated with something we are unable to describe fully.
Title: Is singularity prior to the, big bang, a figure of speech??
Post by: LeeE on 23/08/2010 22:22:04: Whether the BB singularity had zero size or not is open to debate. Same applies for the hypothetical singularity at the center of Black Holes.