According to General Relativity (the theory that predicts, and explains most of the features of black holes), there is no lower limit to the size of a black hole. But, a full theory of how gravity works must also include quantum mechanics, and such a theory has yet to be constructed. Some hints from recent work on this theory suggest that a black hole can be no smaller than about "10-to-the-(-33)" cm in radius --- 0.000000000000000000000000000000001 cm. On that small a size scale, even the apparently smooth nature of space will break down into a "rat-trap" of tunnels, loops, and other interwoven structures! At least, that's what current work suggests.
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This black hole, named M81, is 20,000 light years wide. 
4 comments:
Can anyone put this into relative terms? How big is 20,000 light years?
Well, a beam of light moves about 300,000 kilometers every second...
so that means it will travel 9,500,000,000,000 kilometers in one year.
Times 20,000.
Woah.
(How can we possible comprehend such distance?)
How small can a black hole get?
..asked an Eight Grader.
According to General Relativity (the theory that predicts, and explains most of the features of black holes), there is no lower limit to the size of a black hole. But, a full theory of how gravity works must also include quantum mechanics, and such a theory has yet to be constructed. Some hints from recent work on this theory suggest that a black hole can be no smaller than about "10-to-the-(-33)" cm in radius --- 0.000000000000000000000000000000001 cm. On that small a size scale, even the apparently smooth nature of space will break down into a "rat-trap" of tunnels, loops, and other interwoven structures! At least, that's what current work suggests.
Don't some people believe that we may be able to time travel through those tunnels?
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