• Question: how long does a black hole last for

    Asked by OMGMaster2005 to Peter on 14 Nov 2016. This question was also asked by Electrogiraffe.
    • Photo: Peter Boorman

      Peter Boorman answered on 14 Nov 2016:

      Very interesting question!

      I’m not exactly sure – I think the time a black hole lasts depends on their size/mass. For example, the very smallest black holes – ‘micro black holes’, which are predicted to be created when atoms smash into each other at experiments like the LHC in Switzerland, are predicted to last for fractions of a second before ‘evaporating’. I guess this would mean that massive black holes the size of billions of the Sun would last a bit longer!

      Peter

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