Factopus

6 of 7

LESSON 3 · The Universe: From Big Bang to Black Holes

PAUSE TO THINK

Can black holes actually evaporate?

Yes

Hawking radiation arises from quantum effects near the event horizon. Virtual particle pairs appear; one falls in, the other escapes. For stellar-mass holes this takes longer than 10^67 years. Microscopic holes would evaporate explosively.

←Back Next Page →