Black Holes guys, they’re back - we can’t get rid of them - because well, they’re
slowly gobbling up our entire universe, exponentially getting more and more prevalent as the eternal,
cosmic dial slowly ticks back to infinity.
The fact of the matter is though, black holes have consistently been the proverbial thorn
in the side of physics for centuries - a cosmic entity that has constantly pushed the boundaries
of what we know about the universe.
And on the grand scale of things, we don’t know much for certain - but theoretically,
we do know that there’s a boat-load of cool stuff waiting for us on the horizon.
So, in that case, let’s take a look shall we?
Hello internet - what’s going on and once again welcome back to the most inquisitive
channel on YouTube - Life’s Biggest Questions.
As per usual, I’ll be your disembodied floating voice Jack Finch - as today, we curiously
ask the question - Can We Harvest Energy From A Black Hole?
Ah - don’t worry guys, it wouldn’t be anywhere as near as devastating as that.
Mainly for the fact that whatever black hole technology our advanced civilization managed
to muster, we’d never be foolish enough to press the big red ON button whilst on planet
level.
For the curious amongst you, that clip was from 2009’s Star Trek, directed by J.J Abrams
- and it’s a pretty fitting choice for our opening clip, as for our hypothetical advanced
civilization to have the means to harvest the energy of a black hole, we’d probably
already resemble the awesome United Federation of Planets - which is something to look forward
to, I guess.
Now, for those of you that have already seen our previous black hole video - What If You
Grew Up At The Edge Of A Black Hole - we briefly outlined the mechanics of a civilization hundreds
of thousands of years in the future, and the means of technology that they’d have to
employ to survive in the literal dark age of the universe, when all the stars were burned
out and only supermassive black holes remained.
So, if you haven’t seen it - now would be high time to head on over and check it out
- because in this video, we’re sinking our teeth into some of the most theoretical of
theoretical physics going.
So, let’s boil it down.
Can We Harvest Energy From A Black Hole?
Well, the quick answer to this question is - hell yes we can, and not only is it possible
- but it’s, theoretically speaking - one of the most efficient energy sources in the
known universe.
However, it’s in the implications of an advanced enough civilization capable of this
method of energy conversion where things get really, really interesting - and for the most
part, the fun of this question is how we can speculate on exactly what our space faring
species would look like.
Imagine thousands of years in the distant future, perhaps even hundreds of thousand
of years - where humanity has evolved past the point of theoretical physics - into the
realm of practical science and technology, utilising the same methods that were once
scrawled on chalkboards by grumpy professors thousands of years before.
That’s if the current scientific model is correct, anyway - but that’s by the by.
At that point in space and time, it would be safe to assume that our species were entirely
capable of efficiently traversing the universe to begin harvesting the energy from a black
hole - because as it stands, with our current levels of technology, even getting close to
the nearest black hole would probably take roughly 12 million years.
And as we know, time is money, friends.
For the sake of brevity, let’s just circumvent that entirely, and assume that some kind of
revolutionary warp-drive or antimatter propulsion engine has already been discovered to further
our civilizations method of harnessing the incredibly potent energy of a black hole.
If the scientific model’s current understanding of astrophysics and general relativity is
correct, then our distant descendents would most likely employ what is known as the Penrose
Process to squeeze out the theoretical juice.
As the name suggests, this idea was first hypothesised by our man Roger Penrose back
in 1971, who coincidentally was best buds with the late great Stephen Hawking, and the
two of them conjured up all kinds of awesome ideas about the physical magnitude of the
cosmos.
In essence, we’ve known for a while that almost every black hole rotates at an absolutely
staggering speed - and this same effect pulls any material approaching it into what’s
known as an accretion disk.
Kind of like that stuff you see in the rings of Saturn.
And like with most things, the fun stuff start’s when you begin throwing junk at it.
Essentially, black holes are kind of like giant plug holes, but not in the conventional
sense - because as the matter of the accretion disk spirals inward, exponentially moving
faster and faster - wrapping more and more tightly around itself, and before it completes
its descent, it will start feeling an intense, unimaginable friction.
In essence - it will give itself a carpet burn, on a cosmic scale - and as we know,
any kind of friction yields energy.
We’re talking radiation on an extragalactic scale - the mass of the the accretion disk
directly transmuted into x-ray energy.
For a scale of reference, our current best method of converting matter to energy, nuclear
fission, roughly has an efficiency conversion of 0.1%.
On the next rung of the ladder, the sun’s process of nuclear fusion is far superior,
yet only converts 0.7% of it’s hydrogen mass into light energy - the other 99.3% is
lost as helium.
Black Hole’s alone, all by themselves, just doing what they’re doing, gobbling up space-time
and matter - have an energy conversion rate of perhaps up to 40 percent.
40 Percent!
That is staggering.
A single kilogram of matter converted 40% of the way into energy would yield roughly
36 petajoules - or 10-terawatt-hours of energy.
That’s enough to power our entire planet for half an hour - with a single kilogram
of matter.
We just need to find a way to harness that energy without slipping down into the void.
Cos that’s the real problem, right?
Black hole’s are dangerous, and any kind of Black Hole Workers Union would have their
work cut out for them, to say the least.
But the Penrose Process goes one further, and notes that the rotational energy of a
black hole isn’t located *inside* the event horizon, but instead - on the outside of it,
in a region referred to as the ergosphere.
This is where things get a little bit weird - and Penrose theorizes that any carefully
arranged object of matter on this plane could theoretically rotate in spacetime for infinity
- it’s momentum juxtaposed between greater mass-energy, and negative mass-energy.
If say that object was a mirror - and we arranged a structure of massive reflective surfaces
in the black holes ergosphere, we could shoot a beam of light into the black hole - and
our civilization could subsequently harvest the super-energetic light as an infinite source
of free energy on an unimaginable scale.
Obviously, the cost of such an endeavour would be astronomical at first, but it would pay
dividends for literally, infinity - and in terms of energy efficiency - there is no better
deal in the known universe than that of a black-hole.
Hey, I’m starting to feel like some kind of Black Hole Energy Salesman.
Well, in that case - theoretically speaking, there’s a whole new industry just waiting
to be discovered.
Isn’t the universe awesome?
Well - there we have it, our answer to the eternal question - Can We Harvest Energy From
A Black Hole?
Yes!
On paper, anyway - but the logistics of such an operation are still pending the approval
of the entire human species.
Hurry up guys, there’s so much stuff out there.
So - what did you guys think?
Do you have a better way to harvest the rotational energy of a black hole than Roger Penrose
himself?
Let us know your masterplan in the comment section down below.
Before we depart from today’s video, let’s take a quick look at some of your more resounding
remarks from over the past few days.
A.J Nieves says --
I wish Jack Finch would read this comment.
Sad face.
-- Don’t worry A.J - I got you bud.
Hopefully that sad face, is now a happy face.
On that note, unfortunately that’s all we’ve got time for in today’s video - cheers for
sticking around all the way until the end.
If you were a fan of this video, or just LBQ in general - then please be a dear and hit
that thumbs up button, as well as that subscribe bell - and I’ll be seeing you in the next
one.
As per usual, I’ve been your disembodied floating voice Jack Finch - you’ve been
watching Life’s Biggest Questions - and until next time, you take it easy.