The universe is definitely filled with a lot of strange objects, but what if the strangest and
most mysterious object that we know has another level of strangeness we haven't come across yet?
Find out what it is in today’s episode!
When I was young, I came across Bertrand Russell’s floating teapot in the solar system,
you know, the one that you can and can’t say doesn’t exist?
Back at that time, I certainly thought “Wow, the universe couldn’t get any stranger than this!”
But as I grew older, I’ve stumbled upon a huge number of other things that are
definitely stranger than a floating teapo: There are binary stars consuming one another, magnetars,
what strange force pulls objects towards the center of the Laniakea supercluster,
and many more. At this point, I thought “okay, a teapot floating about just
way past Pluto seems more regular”. Anybody suddenly thirsty for some tea?
Okay, enough about kitchenware free falling several million kilometers from us.
Today, I want to talk about another mysterious cousin of the planets
and the stars; today, let’s talk about white holes.
Now, I get it. I know that name sounds utterly unrealistic and totally made up,
but I swear this is going to be worth your time.
According to Kant, one of the most hardcore geniuses to ever exist,
we can only understand something in reference to another thing that we already know. For instance,
to be able to describe what a dragon is, early humans have used reptiles as a reference.
And although the result is a purely fictional creature in today’s standards,
it certainly has generated a lot of crazy tales and marvelous stories.
So, borrowing from that notion, to help us understand exactly what white holes are,
let’s compare it in contrast with the thing that is a complement of its nature:
Let’s compare it with black holes, and see what how they are similar and different.
Okay, now that we have a strategy in place. Why don’t we start with
the simplest definition that we can say about a white hole.
In an extremely rudimentary sense, a white hole is..well,
the opposite of a black hole. Like, totally literally. Let me explain.
If you can recall one of the simplest definitions of a black hole that one can find
is that it is an object in space wherein nothing -- not even light -- can escape. Even information,
the only thing that people thought before would be impossible to break apart, would also break
inside a black hole. Can you even begin to imagine how strong that is? Well if you can’t, we made
an entire feature about black holes so why don’t you go check that out after watching this video?
So okay, if that’s a black hole,
what’s a white hole then? An object or region in space where everything can escape?
If that’s your answer, that’s very close but not quite. Good analogy, though!
Think of watching an open manhole in the road where water falls in.
When the current is strong, you can place a small object on it and it gets sucked automatically,
right? This is like the black hole. Now, imagine going underground and you’re now looking
straight up on the manhole where water is pouring onto you. It will feel like things will just come
into it with no obstruction at all. This is how you can think of how a white hole works.
In a basic sense, a white hole is a region in space that nothing can ever enter from
the outside. The only thing that’s certain is that things -- matter and light -- can only
come out of it. Imagine how bright white holes could be! And the level of radiation
here could imply that calling it a “white hole” could be a severe oversimplification.
Another thing that these two universal twins have in common is that they both
have their own event horizon, do you remember what that is?
For a black hole, the event horizon is the region around it in which when an object enters,
there’s no longer turning back: escape will be impossible for any object that crosses this area.
So if that’s the case for black holes, how is it set up for white holes? Well,
we established that they are counter-entities, so in that case, a white holes event horizon
is the region around it where nothing can ever enter. Or okay, let’s state that better.
Since nothing can actually enter a white hole,
it’s more honest to say that once an object exits a white hole, it can no longer go back to it.
Adding to the key of similarities that black and white holes have
is that they both have a singularity. So, do you remember what singularities are to a black hole?
For a black hole, the singularity is its densest point, where in whatever object
enters the event horizon eventually -- for lack of a better word, since we know that time works
differently in a black hole -- becomes crushed, compressed and zapped into the black hole.
Using that analogy, for a white hole, its singularity is the point at which light and
matter escapes from, and from it, just blatantly violates the second law of thermodynamics.
Now, I know what you’re thinking. I thought this is supposed to be an astronomy video,
why are we discussing thermodynamics and entropy!
Bear with me a bit, I promise this is one of the coolest things about a white hole.
So, if you would recall, the second law of thermodynamics
states that the amount of entropy in any closed system can only increase.
Now, entropy has always been misused in popular reference to mean, “disorder”.
It’s not wrong, but it can be better stated.
The better definition of entropy is that the number of states in which an object can be in.
For example, If you have a set of six dices, there’s
six to the sixth states in which they can be rolled out. So okay,
let’s think of an example that will eventually connect with black holes and white holes.
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Imagine you’re making some apple smoothie. You got yourself some apples,
and then you plug in the blender. You add in other ingredients,
like say, milk, ice cubes, and some sugar. Depending on your preference.
You turn the blender on, and some few minutes later, you get your smoothie.
Now, you can try to piece together the apple bits or the ice bits to maybe put together an
apple or an ice cube, but this will never be the same ingredients you used earlier.
The parts have to be in a very specific state to be able to return to their material form
before you make a smoothie out of them. You can’t just put that back into the
blender and expect it to run backwards, that’s a violation of the second law of thermodynamics!
Well, if the black holes are the blenders of the universe, increasing entropy by an
unimaginable magnitude, the white holes violate that by decreasing entropy,
at a point you can even say that they are black holes going backwards in time.
So, the burning question in everyone’s minds right now must be
are white holes actually going backwards in time?
To someone who studies general relativity, the easy answer is a quick yes.
In this field introduced by Albert Einstein, the idea that time is a standard and ultimate
reference is abandoned. So if that’s the case, it shouldn’t be a problem to go
opposite the direction it currently does. At least theoretically speaking.
It’s a bit of a bummer, but I bet that last line pretty much
spoils the true nature of a white hole, right?
Although it sounds completely awesome and it would definitely be more awesome to see and study one,
so far, white holes are only possibilities that exist on paper.
But hey, keep in mind that there was a time when black holes were also thought
to be completely theoretical, but look at where we are now! We see it devour gigantic objects,
we see it being referenced in several pop culture pieces. It’s practically
impossible to come across with a person who has never heard about a black hole nowadays.
I guess what I’m trying to say it is could be just a matter of time! Who knows?
So why do we say that white holes are purely theoretical? Well, for starters,
we all know that the universe -- or at least the way we see that it works -- loves to obey
conservation laws. Yes, there were instances where some phenomena appear to disobey this rule,
but they are often very unstable and last only for a few seconds or even a fraction of it.
Even if, say, one would suddenly exist out of nowhere,
the natural thing for it to do is to collapse in itself and turn into a black hole.
But despite the outrageously theoretical nature of it,
there is one event which we might consider as the first ever sighting of a white hole.
Back in June 14th, 2006, an enormous gamma ray burst was seen in the night
sky lasting for just a few notches above a hundred seconds. Scientists
say that the energy that came out of it could be several powers of 10 greater
than our sun. Imagine how much power you can generate with that amount of energy!
Initially, astronomers thought that this could just be a star
collapsing on itself and becoming a black hole.
Okay, pop quiz, what do dying giant stars exhibit when they finally meet their inevitable end?
That’s right, they exhibit a supernova.
Moreover, considering the duration that this object existed,
the only fitting candidate would be a supernova.
But when the images came on, there wasn’t any indication of a supernova anywhere.
Like a beautiful dream, it arrived, stayed for a few seconds, and then completely vanished.
Of course, we’re not saying that a white hole is the only thing that it could be.
There are also other candidates, like for instance, some people say that it could be
radiation from a neutron star getting slowly being eaten piece by piece by a black hole.
It could be two neutron stars merging together and releasing strong waves of energy.
These are all great candidates, but the thing is these events have already been observed several
times before and they don’t usually last more than three seconds. I think from that fact alone,
we can figure out that it’s less likely that it is any of those events.
But again -- I cannot stress this enough -- we are not saying that these are white holes, okay?
Nobody is saying that. What we can say for sure is that so far, this is the best candidate we have!
And although it is extremely exciting to think that we will live in a time
that we can finally see one, all we can do for the meantime is just patiently wait. And I bet
when we finally see one, I’d definitely make a video about it right away in this very channel.
But that’s just me, I’d like to know what you guys think.
Do you think the object we mentioned earlier is a white hole? Do you think
it’s something else that’s equally thrilling? Do you think we’re close to finding one?
You know the drill. Let us know what you think by leaving your thoughts and
ideas in the comments section down below. I personally run through all of them everyday,
and honestly, I love engaging with all of you geniuses!