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A few questions


Rayleigh

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My friend and I were talking about some science-y things, and some of the things he said really intrigued me about questions with possibly blatantly obvious answers, but either way, I'm going to ask just to make sure.

First of all, is it possible for light to manifest a physical form? We can see light, but is it possible to touch it, and warp it to a shape or any other physical form?

Second, can huge amounts of sound create black holes? My friend says massive, and I mean massive, amounts of loud sound can create black holes, which to me sounds insanely stupid.
Adding on to this question, can you be sucked in to a black hole if you're behind it? Black holes suck in everything, but he says if you're behind it (anywhere behind it, distance doesn't matter) you can't be sucked in.

Last of all, as atoms have an infinite amount of space between one another, and things such as pillars are made up of atoms, if you put your hands on both sides of a pillar, you're technically touching your other hand, as the space between atoms technically lets your hands through. This questions probably sounds like I'm saying, "Hey, I belong in a mental institution" but he says it's true.

That's all. And if you are unsure about something then say so and I'll edit my post

P.S. Explanations are more helpful than yes or no answers!

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Second, can huge amounts of sound create black holes? My friend says massive, and I mean massive, amounts of loud sound can create black holes, which to me sounds insanely stupid.

A wave of sound travels by making nearby molecules vibrate. In space, there's no air, no molecules of anything to vibrate, and thus no sound in space. Your friend's idea* is insanely stupid. biggrin.png

 

I think Douglas Adams did a bit about a heavy metal rock band that could create some serious damage if you weren't a few AUs away from them. H2G2 stuff, very hilarious.

 

Adding on to this question, can you be sucked in to a black hole if you're behind it? Black holes suck in everything, but he says if you're behind it (anywhere behind it, distance doesn't matter) you can't be sucked in.

 

Black holes are spherically symmetrical, iirc. There is no "behind", just like there is no "behind" to a star.

 

 

* When you talk to your friend, remember I said "Your friend's idea", not "Your friend"!

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First of all, is it possible for light to manifest a physical form? We can see light, but is it possible to touch it, and warp it to a shape or any other physical form?

Not unless you have a novel definition for "physical form". Light is just electromagnetic radiation not something material or solid.

 

Last of all, as atoms have an infinite amount of space between one another, and things such as pillars are made up of atoms, if you put your hands on both sides of a pillar, you're technically touching your other hand, as the space between atoms technically lets your hands through.

There is not an "infinite" amount of space between atoms, but there is some. There are bound together in molecules and solids by the bonds between their electrons. The electric fields of these electrons is what makes something feel solid. When you touch something, it is the electric fields in your hand interacting with the electric field in the object that make it feel solid. So when you put your hands either side of a pillar they are each interacting with (touching) the pillar (not the other hand).

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First of all, is it possible for light to manifest a physical form? [/size]

This will depend on whet you mean by a "physical form". As already stated here, you cannot think of light in quite the same way as matter, but you can have "lumps of light" these are photons.

 

 

Second, can huge amounts of sound create black holes? My friend says massive, and I mean massive, amounts of loud sound can create black holes, which to me sounds insanely stupid.[/size]

[/size][/font][/color]

In principal one could imagine a shock wave traveling through a gaseous nebular pushing the local density high enough to form black holes. But I have no idea is we do in reality have such a mechanisms to produce these shock waves.

 

Last of all, as atoms have an infinite amount of space between one another, and things such as pillars are made up of atoms, if you put your hands on both sides of a pillar, you're technically touching your other hand, as the space between atoms technically lets your hands through. This questions probably sounds like I'm saying, "Hey, I belong in a mental institution" but he says it's true.[/size]

The electromagnetic repulsion between the particles in your hand and the pillar keep your hands apart. You can ponder the question if if your hands can every really touch each other at the atomic scale?

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Second, can huge amounts of sound create black holes? My friend says massive, and I mean massive, amounts of loud sound can create black holes, which to me sounds insanely stupid.

 

Adding on to this question, can you be sucked in to a black hole if you're behind it? Black holes suck in everything, but he says if you're behind it (anywhere behind it, distance doesn't matter) you can't be sucked in.

A black hole is the remains of a star, after the star consumes all the atoms that can be fused into other atoms. For example hydrogen atoms fuse into helium. Our Sun is a star, but it is too small to become a black hole. When a larger star, one with more gravity burns its fuel, its gravity is so strong that most of the atoms in the star are crushed into a tiny volume and that star becomes a black hole.

 

Last of all, as atoms have an infinite amount of space between one another, and things such as pillars are made up of atoms, if you put your hands on both sides of a pillar, you're technically touching your other hand, as the space between atoms technically lets your hands through.

Atoms are very small, you are made of billions of them. Since you are not infinitely large, the atoms in your body cannot be infinitely far apart. I'm not sure what you think about an "infinite amount of space," but infinity is really large, larger than anyone can imagine. If you count 1, 2, 3, 4, ... you can count to bigger and bigger numbers, but you cannot count as large as infinity. Similarly, if you fly in a straight line, into space and away from the Earth, you can fly further and further, but you can never fly infinitely far away from the Earth, there is always further away.

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