Kip Thorne - Why Black Holes Are Astonishing
Why Physics Stack Exchange recommends it
Physics Stack Exchange users cite it when they want Kip Thorne's own statement that a black hole contains no matter, only warped spacetime around a singularity.
Recommended by 1 people across 1 different months, 2015 to 2024.
What it is
A short Closer To Truth interview in which physicist Kip Thorne explains why black holes are astonishing: they warp space and time, and in his account the infalling matter is destroyed, leaving only warped spacetime around a singularity. It is a roughly six-minute conceptual explanation for a general audience.
What people said
Recommends JEB · 2024-10 · Physics Stack Exchange · on “Why does the Schwarzschild solution describe a black hole?”
Lots of good answer, but everything I know about blackholes I learned from Kip Thorne, and since he's world famous, he's on YouTube $^{1, 2, 3}$ . He explains that a blackhole doesn't contain matter. The in-falling material crosses the horizon, and then the singularity is point in its future, when it is destroyed. The singularity contains all the non-zero $G_{\mu, \nu}$ as a topological defect in space-time (it's not part of space-time anymore), and the Schwarzschild solution is the warped-space time that cloaks that and connects it back to asymptotic Minkowski space. All the mass/energy of to progenitor star now resides in the warped space-time surrounding the singularity. (I note that Kip
Cites Todd Lewis · 2015-08 · Physics Stack Exchange · on “If a black hole is just warped spacetime, then where is the electric charge?”
Here, Thorne describes the pure spacetime character of black holes as their characteristic that he finds most compelling. It's not an incidental aspect of his understanding; it's a core attribute. [this video]
Cites Todd Lewis · 2015-08 · Physics Stack Exchange · on “If a black hole is just warped spacetime, then where is the electric charge?”
Here again, he is very clear that he thinks that "all of the matter is destroyed, and all that is left is warped space, and warped time." [this video] I know that other physicists have different understandings from Thorne's, but my question is, if you asked him where the electric charge went, what would he say? In other words, my question is internally exploratory of his theory, not externally critical of his theory.
Cites Doradus · 2020-08 · Physics Stack Exchange · on “If mass curve spacetime, is it possible for mass to be curved spacetime?”
According to Kip Thorne, black holes are just curved spacetime. There's no matter inside a black hole. [this video]
Cites JEB · 2022-07 · Physics Stack Exchange · on “Is a black hole a single particle or a bunch of particles that binds together?”
A (Schwarzschild) black hole is made from curved spacetime, around a singularity. Matter that has reached the singularity is destroyed, at least that's what Kip Thorne says: [this video] .
Cites JEB · 2024-12 · Physics Stack Exchange · on “Why are black holes referred to as infinite when their mass is not infinite and there is nothing infinite in the current universe?”
I prefer Kip's classical explanation ( [this video] [LINK] ), where the only "infinity" is the singularity, and it is a defect in space-time. There is no density, it is all space-time, and the mass is contained in the energy of warped space-time surrounding the singularity.