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Academics Weekly Assignment — September 26th, 2021


Welcome to the Academics weekly assignment for the week of September 26th, 2021! These weekly assignments will give our Professors the ability to showcase some of their lesson ideas here on the website. Each assignment will be posted for a week, in which everyone will be able to read about the topic and respond to the assignment prompt. This week's assignment is "Astronomy - Black Holes," created by Courtney (epic_cool_mcgee).

The assignment is as follows:
Introduction
Black holes are dense space objects that have a very large mass. Due to their large mass, black holes also have a strong gravitational pull. Because of this, nothing can escape a black hole’s gravitational pull, not even light. Any terms that are bolded will be defined in the glossary.

Appearance
Black holes are made up of four regions: the ergosphere, the outer event horizon, the inner event horizon, and the singularity. In order to imagine what a black hole looks like, picture a funnel. The ergosphere occupies the larger, wider parts of the top portion of the funnel. The outer event horizon is the transition area between the ergosphere area and the funnel pipe. The inner event horizon is the area of the black hole between the outer event horizon and where the tube of the funnel cuts off. This is also known as a Cauchy horizon. This area is quite unstable, which leads some to believe that time can be manipulated in it. This has not been proven, though. After the Cauchy horizon, there is a singular point at the bottom of the “funnel” called the singularity. It’s the center point of the black hole, in which the laws of physics as we know them stop working.

Reference Image:

Types
Although black holes are similar, they are not all identical. The thing that sets them apart is their size and their formation. There are four types of black holes, one of which has not been proven to exist. They are: supermassive, stellar, intermediate, and miniature.

Supermassive Black Holes
This is the biggest type of black hole. It is unknown how supermassive black holes form, but one theory is that many small black holes combine, creating a much larger one. There is a supermassive black hole in the center of almost every known galaxy. It is even believed that the Milky Way (the galaxy we live in) has one.

Stellar Black Holes
This is the most common type of black hole. When big stars die off, some go out with a big explosion called a supernova. Only the core of the star remains, which begins to collapse in on itself. If the core is crushed into a small point, a black hole is formed. Because of this formation, stellar black holes are small in size, but incredibly dense.

Intermediate Black Holes
These medium-sized black holes are thought to be formed when stars that are grouped together collide in a chain reaction, much like dominos. Astronomers have guessed that intermediate black holes were found more commonly in the centers of small galaxies. Upon further observation, this appears to be correct.

Miniature Black Holes
This kind of black hole has not yet been proven. It is believed that during the Big Bang, the event that many scientists believe created our universe, miniature black holes were formed. They soon evaporated, leaving no trace of their existence.

Glossary
Density: Measure of how compact something is
Gravity: A force that results from two masses that are near each other. (On Earth this force is what causes us to stay on the ground and not float into space)
Manipulate: To control or influence
Matter: Anything takes up space
Mass: Amount of matter in an object

Assignment
You are on a ship that is nearing a black hole. You were sent with a group of scientists to research it. As you get closer to the black hole you begin to realize that the navigation calculations provided were incorrect! The ship is going to be sucked into the black hole! How do you react? Do you try to save the ship or do you accept your fate? What kind of black hole are you going towards? What kind of research were you sent to do?

Please write a minimum of five complete and original sentences to get ACs! Assignments must follow all PotterworldMC rules, which can be found here; assignments that do not follow all PotterworldMC rules will be subject to punishment. If your assignment does not meet the requirements, you will be unable to redo your assignment for this week. Assignments are due at 12am PST on Sunday, October 3rd, 2021. You may submit as soon as you would like, but any assignments submitted after that time will not receive grades. You may receive up to 20 ACs for your submission. House points will not be awarded to any submissions. If you have any questions, please reach out to a Jr. Professor, Sr. Professor, Academics Advisor, or Head of Academics on Discord.

Click here to submit your assignment, and click here to view your submission.
 

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