Experiment 2:
Thermodynamics - Time and Mass
Experiment Objective:
The purpose of this experiment was to determine which size black hole would be better at converting mass into energy.
Background Information:
Black Holes have entropy, meaning that they follow the laws of thermodynamics. Basic thermodyamics is in extremely simple terms a law that dictates that energy (in the form of heat) flows from an area of higher concentration to an area of lower concentration.
Black hole thermodynamics, is in essence the relationship between the temperature of the black hole and cosmic background radiation. Cosmic background radiation is currently approximately 2.7 Kelvin.
This means that after a black hole is created if it is hotter than the current cosmic background radiation, the black hole will create more energy, than it absorbs (after the initial creation) or in other words, it will start to radiate its mass away in the form of energy, until it fades. In simpler terms, Black holes release more energy when they are hotter than the area surrounding them (space), and release net negative energy when they are in an area that is hotter than them.
Experiment Theory
The specific heat of an object is the amount of heat per unit mass required to raise the temperature by one degree Celsius. Black holes are very unique as they have negative specific heat capacity. Therefore they need to lose energy in the form of mass, to raise their temperature. Thus, by adding energy to candles, an object with positive specific heat capacity, you can simulate what happens when you take energy away from a black hole. This is because both of these two systems (the black hole and the candle) have one thing in common, which is time.
Pictures:
These are the candles for the thermodynamics experiment.
Ruler used to track changes in mass of the candles
Results from our thermodynamics experiment
These are the candles for the thermodynamics experiment.
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Results:
Analysis:
After performing our experiments, our results clearly showed that larger candles took longer to burn. This means that larger black holes must also take longer to radiate their mass away. This is because the two systems run exactly opposite to each other. But they have one common property – time. Time is constant in both. Which means that if it takes longer for the larger mass of the candle to melt, it will take longer for a larger black hole to radiate its mass away. Because mass is radiated away in a black hole by conversion into hawking radiation (energy), a slower rate of erosion of the black hole means that there is less energy (hawking radiation) that we can capture. Thus, for our purposes we must build smaller black holes and harvest their energy.