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Composite image of spiral galaxy M81.
Credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/Wisconsin/D.Pooley & CfA/A.Zezas; Optical: NASA/ESA/CfA/A.Zezas
UV: NASA/JPL-Caltech/CfA/J.Huchra et al.; IR: NASA/JPL-Caltech/CfA
 

Jul 02, 2008
Supermassive Problems with Black Holes

A gravitational point source more than 70 million times the mass of the Sun is theorized to inhabit this galactic core. Are scientists misinterpreting their own observations?

In a recent press release from the Chandra X-ray Observatory astronomers announced that black holes exhibit similar behavior regardless of their mass. Whether they are ten times the mass of a typical star or many millions of times more massive, they tear matter apart and forcefully draw it into unknown regions where the so-called physical laws of our universe no longer apply.

Black holes are said to cause space and time itself to twist and warp so that the past becomes the future and velocity calculations yield impossible solutions. Matter inside of a black hole occupies no volume at all, yet retains gravitational acceleration so great that not even light can escape its attraction – thus they are "black" holes because they cannot be detected with optical telescopes. Although they are impossible to observe directly over 90% of galaxies in the universe are said to harbor these perilous maws.

In several previous Picture of the Day discussions about black holes and their influence on the universe we determined that the descriptive terminology used by researchers is itself problematic, relying on highly speculative explanations derived from loose interpretations. Ambiguous lexical labels such as space/time, multiple universes, singularities, infinite density and other ideas that are not quantifiable have introduced irony into what should be a realistic investigation into the nature of the universe.

Scientists working with Chandra have also concluded that black holes can form with an intense electric field as they collapse into infinite darkness. It is thought that gamma ray bursts are generated when the e-field in a dying star is converted into electron and positron (anti-matter electrons) pairs in less than a trillionth of a nanosecond.

Copious groups of anti-particles interact and annihilate each other, releasing electromagnetic radiation that propagates outward at the speed of light. The extremely high light frequencies are seen as a gamma ray burst on Earth along with an "afterglow" of ultraviolet and x-ray emissions.

Since explosions of such magnitude are impossible under conventional models of matter and energy the Chandra team has concluded that something new must be added to the mix; that "something" is electric charge, although it is electric charge in a bizarre disguise. Gamma ray observations imply matter and anti-matter annihilation but the formation of electron-positron pairs due to gravitational compaction is a theoretical fantasy.

Another fictional source for the energetic phenomena we see in space is gravitational tides. Some flares and x-ray jets spewing from galaxies are thought to be caused by stars traveling too close to their central supermassive black holes where they are torn apart by tidal forces. Most of the star's gas escapes the black hole, but a small quantity is captured by the immense gravity and forms a rotating disk. Closer to the black hole, heat generated by molecular collisions tears the atoms apart and the disk of gas glows in x-rays. When matter eventually falls into the black hole gamma rays explosively burst out.

It must be asked whether there is a consistent way to explain what we see in space along with a way to demonstrate those explanations in the laboratory?

X-rays and gamma rays in space are not created in gravity fields. Laboratory experiments most easily produce them by accelerating charged particles through an electric field. No gigantic masses compressed into tiny volumes are necessary and they are easily generated with the proper experimental models. There are other factors that should be considered when analyzing data from space before resorting to super-dense objects and anti-matter explosions as their cause.

There is no experimental evidence that matter can be compressed to “infinite density”. How stars form supernovae is not clear. Supernovae do not form spherical shells when they explode; they form glowing bipolar plasma formations like an hourglass. No one knows what triggers a black hole to suddenly gobble-up matter in its "accretion disk" within a few months.

As we have noted in the past, Hannes Alfvén identified the "exploding double layer" as a new class of celestial object. It is double layers in space plasmas that form most of the unusual structures we see. Stellar explosions, jets, rings, and glowing clouds – these are all examples of electricity flowing through dusty plasma confined within Birkeland currents that stretch across the light years.

Compression zones (z-pinches) in the plasma filaments form plasmoids that become the stars and galaxies. Electricity is responsible for the birth of stars, and when the current density gets too high the double layers in the circuit catastrophically release their excess energy and appear as gamma ray bursts or x-rays or flares of ultraviolet light.

By Stephen Smith
__________________________________________________________________________

Please visit our new "Thunderblog" page

Through the initiative of managing editor Dave Smith, we’ve begun the launch of a new
page called Thunderblog. Timely presentations of fact and opinion, with emphasis on
new discoveries and the explanatory power of the Electric Universe."

new: online video page

The Electric Sky and The Electric Universe available now!

  EXECUTIVE EDITORS: David Talbott, Wallace Thornhill
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  CONTRIBUTING EDITORS: Michael Armstrong, Dwardu Cardona,
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