Khaberni - Although falling into a massive black hole seems like a scenario far from our everyday life, physicists warn of the existence of primordial micro black holes that might be hiding inside our solar system — and theoretically capable of passing through our bodies without us noticing.
These black holes, believed to have formed in the first moments of the universe about 13.8 billion years ago, range in mass from 100,000 times smaller than a paperclip to 100,000 times larger than the sun. Despite their extremely small size, reaching atomic dimensions, a collision with one could be catastrophic, according to Professor Robert Scherrer, a physicist at Vanderbilt University.
A black hole the size of an atom... and the force of a gunshot
Scherrer says that the passage of a relatively large primordial black hole, about the size of an asteroid, through a human body would be akin to a "gunshot" exploding within the body. The immense gravity of these mysterious bodies is capable of tearing brain cells from the inside out.
He asserts that the shockwave resulting from the black hole moving at tremendous speed within the tissues would be sufficient to cause fatal injuries, as the shock spreads at a speed exceeding that of sound away from the path of the foreign body, much like what happens when a high-speed bullet passes through.
And the danger does not stop at the shockwave, as the black hole can generate tidal gravitational forces that pull different parts of the body with varying strength, leading to the tearing of tissues.
In some cases, these forces may range between 10 and 100 newtons across the brain, a force sufficient to completely dismantle the neurons, according to Scherrer's research published in the International Journal of Modern Physics (D).
A shock equivalent to the force of a gun muzzle
The physicist's estimates indicate that a black hole with a mass of 140 billion tons could generate a shock equivalent to the energy of a small-caliber 0.22 rifle, force enough to cause immediate death.
For tidal forces to become deadly in themselves, the black hole must have a mass close to seven trillion tons.
No need to panic
Despite the shocking scenarios, Professor Scherrer reassures that the likelihood of such an encounter is almost non-existent. These black holes, if they exist, have such a low density that their passage near humans or planets is an extremely rare event—at the edge of impossibility.
In reality, Scherrer believes that no one has yet died due to a primordial black hole could hold an important key in understanding dark matter, which constitutes most of the universe's mass. If these black holes were prevalent, human injuries would likely be higher, which would limit the amount of dark matter they could represent.
