Science Buddies: "Ask an Expert"

Black Holes to me are very complex...........when i look at all these other projects i think my project is.......well........babyish.......can someone tell me if it is a good topic.....

Hi Umers,
Welcome to the Ask an Expert forums. Black holes are a very interesting project topic, and the concepts and issues certainly can be challenging enough for a high school project. One possible obstacle is that you can't experiment directly on black holes (of course). As alternatives, you could do some sort of mathematical analysis, or you could try to develop some simple physical model that is analogous to black holes. If you would like to do some direct experiments to test some physical phenomenon, you might want to consider other topics.
I hope that helps. Please let us know if you have more questions.
Chris

Umers,

You may not be able to do a hands-on experiment with a black hole itself, of course, but you can explore the physics behind black holes. To begin you will need to understand the basic black hole physics. A question to get you started may be: why is a black hole black (or void of color) or how does a black hole form (there are many many others)? Then think about what kind of feasible experiments you can do which will provide insight into the physics that goes on inside (or almost more importantly, just outside) a black hole.

Scientists commonly find that there is something they want to investigate but they can't play with it, modify it or, in some instances, even see it. The goal is then to find a new type of experiment which provides information you can use to directly or indirectly answer your question. And sometimes it even works!

Good luck and I can't wait to hear what you figure out!

Heidi