Featured Videos

Click Image to Play Video

I posit this experiment as an earthly analog to gravitational lensing effects predicted by general relativity.  Considerable work is being done to mathematically simulate and predict astronomical images that may be the result of light bending effects of massive bodies.  Not too many people are building actual black holes.  In this experiment, a collimated light beam is projected around the inside surface of a beer can.  The resultant images are uncannily similar to actual observed phenomena for black holes.  Perhaps very earthly objects like curved and spherical mirrors or lenses can be used to predict new classes of images that may be out there.  For example, imagine a shiny ball bearing surrounded by a spherical glass shell.  Light shined directly behind the ball bearing will still be projected in front of it.  Moreover, the curvature of any mirror/lens can be varied across it to provide the appropriate light deflection relationship.  Recent work has associated black holes to fluids exhibiting zero viscosity.  Perhaps a more realistic analog involves zero viscosity only at the surface or rim of the black hole.  Based on the currently known art, I believe a very massive body like a black hole could resemble a vortex ring(a doughnut) of mass and behave like a fluid with flow behavior index, n, less than 1 (i.e. becomes less viscous with higher shear).    This still allows the gravitational bulk of the mass embedded in the mass bubble to inhale through interfacial influences if it has enough energy to penetrate through the black-hole/space interfacial tension surface layer.  It also explains light circulation effects as well as matter transfer through the center.  Moreover, simulations of interacting black holes give some credence to this idea.  A link to a fabulous mathematical simulator for black holes is provided below that allows one to vary the projected light beam at the black hole and observe the result.  Other relevant resources are linked as well.

Black Hole Simulator

Gravitational Lensing

Turbulence in Space

General Relativity

 

Physics Experiments

 

                            

 

Fluids 

  

   beer droplets in oil

      

   droplet interactions  

  

   bubble motion

    

   fluid viscosity  

Electro-Magnetism

  

   magnetic control of a thread

  

   deflection of an asteroid

  

   magneto-kinetic objects

   shaping magnetic fields

  

   ion spray generator

Mechanics

  

   Black-Hole in a Beer Can?

  

   projectiles in magnetic fields

  

   projectiles in fluids

  

   Big Stir Theory

  

   impact curtain experiments

  

   balancing mechanism

   

   flapping wing mechanism

  

   fracture and reconstruction

  

   trefoil geometry

Light

 

  green and red lasers in gas and fluid

 

  laser projection devices

 

  reflection, refraction, scattering

 

Solve Any Problem Page

 

Related Reading

 

 

Copyright 2007, www.videophysics.com, All Rights Reserved.