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by Banana Breath plays the piano on February 17th, 2011

Banana Breath plays the piano

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Shouldn't the term "super massive black hole" be an oxymoron? http://www.nrao.edu/pr/2011/bhdwarf/

Something like an extra large doughnut hole?

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Answers. 2 helpful answers below.

  • by iwnit on February 17th, 2011

    iwnit

    No. Not all black holes are supermassive.

    "A supermassive black hole is the largest type of black hole in a galaxy, on the order of hundreds of thousands to billions of solar masses. Most, and possibly all galaxies, including the Milky Way, are believed to contain supermassive black holes at their centers.

    Supermassive black holes have properties which distinguish them from lower-mass classifications:
    - The average density of a supermassive black hole (defined as the mass of the black hole divided by the volume within its Schwarzschild radius) can be much less than the density of water for very large mass black holes (the densities are similar for 108 solar mass black holes). This is because the Schwarzschild radius is directly proportional to mass, while density is inversely proportional to the volume. Since the volume of a spherical object (such as the event horizon of a non-rotating black hole) is directly proportional to the cube of the radius, average density decreases for larger black holes, being inversely proportional to the square of the mass.
    - The tidal forces in the vicinity of the event horizon are significantly weaker. Since the central singularity is so far away from the horizon, a hypothetical astronaut traveling towards the black hole center would not experience significant tidal force until very deep into the black hole."
    Source and further information:
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supermassive_black_hole

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  • by Chain_of_command on February 17th, 2011

    Chain_of_command

    I think the super massive is referring to how powerful, ie how large the event horizon is and how strong the pull.

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