Oct 15 2009Uh-Oh: Chinese Scientists Create Black Hole
Two scientists in China have developed an electromagnetic black hole capable of sucking in and trapping microwaves (not my Kid's Cuisine!). Next stop: trapping visible light.
The device, which works at microwave frequencies, may soon be extended to trap visible light, leading to an entirely new way of harvesting solar energy to generate electricity.
A theoretical design for a table-top black hole to trap light was proposed in a paper published earlier this year by Evgenii Narimanov and Alexander Kildishev of Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana. Their idea was to mimic the properties of a cosmological black hole, whose intense gravity bends the surrounding space-time, causing any nearby matter or radiation to follow the warped space-time and spiral inwards.Now Tie Jun Cui and Qiang Cheng at the Southeast University in Nanjing, China, have turned Narimanov and Kildishev's theory into practice, and built a "black hole" for microwave frequencies. It is made of 60 annular strips of so-called "meta-materials", which have previously been used to make invisibility cloaks.
You can hit the link to read how the black hole actually works, but that's not what's important. What's important is that it DOES work, and we're all doomed. And here I thought my stomach was the only black hole on earth. Don't believe me? Somebody toss a cheeseburger in the air. Did you see that? Works for hot dogs too. Haha, nice try buddy -- you keep those pants zipped.
First black hole for light created on Earth [newscientist]
Thanks to Equalizer and Chris, who have both lost spaceships to black holes before.
Reader Comments
1. naas - October 15, 2009 3:05 PM
looks like a map of a hurricane next to an aircraft carrier
2. gizmoduck - October 15, 2009 3:07 PM
it looks your butt after throwing up poopy
3. 777 - October 15, 2009 3:07 PM
... ", which have previously been used to make invisibility cloaks"...
ANYBODY?!
4. gizmoduck - October 15, 2009 3:08 PM
damnit china, stop making everything.
5. gizmoduck - October 15, 2009 3:09 PM
HP...der
6. Geekolojew - October 15, 2009 3:10 PM
Must See!!!
http://alturl.com/obg7
________________
@ 1.. just what i thought first lol
7. sixth - October 15, 2009 3:10 PM
finally!
8. CountDruncula - October 15, 2009 3:11 PM
Hurry up and build a time machine so I can go back to KB toys in the 80's and buy star wars figures for $2.00 a pop.
9. naas - October 15, 2009 3:12 PM
@7 http://bugi.oulu.fi/~heikkiv/chan/370538.gif
10. naas - October 15, 2009 3:15 PM
tilt your head 90° to the left........ limp
90° to the right.......shwing
11. Closet Nerd - October 15, 2009 3:17 PM
Better pictures here
http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2009/10/desktop-black-hole/
12. Hawk - October 15, 2009 3:19 PM
Sorry. It's not a black hole. Title is VERY misleading.
13. TallFace - October 15, 2009 3:19 PM
I just want to know what happens when I put my BALLS in it.
14. Hawk - October 15, 2009 3:24 PM
@13 *Hawk does not "tea bag" science experiments that use microwaves!*
15. Ollie Williams - October 15, 2009 3:25 PM
@13
Black holes suck light and matter into itself. It would have no effect on imaginary things or ideas such as your nuts.
16. pixie - October 15, 2009 3:27 PM
i'm having flashbacks to David Brin's "Earth"
17. male - October 15, 2009 3:29 PM
@13 it means you like men.
18. a dog - October 15, 2009 3:30 PM
@8 WOW, you're a FREAKING LOSER aren't ya.
19. snitch - October 15, 2009 3:34 PM
Check out the side effects of exposing the black hole here > http://www.smegma.ca
20. Eskimobob - October 15, 2009 3:46 PM
I dont like the thought of this. One day they are thinking "oh wow an alternate energy source" the next the government takes it away and develops it into a weapon. could u imagine being able to open up a small black hole in the middle of a city? it would destroy everything.
21. Dishy Dishyington - October 15, 2009 3:51 PM
What's an annular strip? Is it related to the black hole in the middle of Uranus?
22. Bad Winter - October 15, 2009 6:05 PM
Just build a huge one and put it in a third-world country. We'll pay them minimally for their sun light, and use that energy to heat the atmosphere on the North and East sides of the country so we can avoid winter! I hate the snow.
23. Derrick - October 15, 2009 7:01 PM
@ 15 f'ing hilarious...
24. shellshell - October 15, 2009 7:44 PM
the Japanese with their killer robots and now China and the black hole?? And I thought Russia was dangerous...
25. Angel Mass - October 15, 2009 8:11 PM
First the Large Hardron Collider and now this, what is next?
26. Ciao - October 15, 2009 8:16 PM
yay another man made universe's bung hole
27. VixenVena - October 15, 2009 10:13 PM
Didn't Xiang Zhang at Berkeley do this way back in July?
28. GeekyRAMBO - October 16, 2009 12:25 AM
Yo Geekologie!
Doesn't that mean that they can finally generate a wormhole capable of time traveling?
AND don't forget that Time Traveling does require and extreme amount of energy to create such wormholes.
AND that energy source (as scientists say), comes from the negative energy that a BLACK HOLE is capable of giving.
HMMMMM CAN I SAY CHA-CHING?!
or
HOLY S***!! NOW THE APOCALYPSE IS STARTING!!
29. James - October 16, 2009 2:15 AM
@3 EXACTLY.
How has this apparently escaped everyone else?
Now where can we get some of those invisibility cloaks...
30. InSaint - October 16, 2009 3:23 AM
As I was saying all along - Gravity must be a form of Electro-Magnetism.
31. Jaded Icon - October 16, 2009 8:16 AM
@ 20
They are Chinese scientists Eskimobob, that means their government already owns the technology. Besides it sounds like it would be better used for espionage. Something China is really getting behind. Government sponsored hacking, invisibility cloaks, and now this?.....we need more ninjas. Get Japan working on that right now!
32. bR1an - October 16, 2009 10:55 AM
Once this technology becomes weaponized by the Chinese, it's all going to end in tears. I wholeheartedly reccomend we hit them with this:
http://cache.gawker.com/assets/images/2009/06/custom_1244642654333_penetrator.jpg
As a quick aside, singularity grenades were a great little weapon in Steven R. Donaldson's 7 volume Gap series of books. Some of the best science fiction I have ever read....and I've read a lot.
33. naas - October 16, 2009 1:05 PM
@32 hahaha, awesome
34. killer - December 18, 2009 12:43 PM
WOW! china is stupid there fedding it thats what the Black Hole WANTS!! ITS GOING TO GOBBLE US ALIVE or just kill us
35. James - January 5, 2010 10:18 PM
Boiler Up!!