Parameters
The Schwarzschild radius of an object is proportional to the mass. Accordingly, the Sun has a Schwarzschild radius of approximately 3.0 km (1.9 mi) while the Earth's is only about 9.0 mm, the size of a peanut. The observable universe's mass has a Schwarzschild radius of approximately 10 billion light years.
| (m) | (g/cm3) | |
|---|---|---|
| Universe | 4.46×1025 (~10B ly) | 8×10−29 (9.9×10−30) |
| Milky Way | 2.08×1015 (~0.2 ly) | 3.72×10−8 |
| Sun | 2.95×103 | 1.84×1016 |
| Earth | 8.87×10−3 | 2.04×1027 |
An object whose radius is smaller than its Schwarzschild radius is called a black hole. The surface at the Schwarzschild radius acts as an event horizon in a non-rotating body (a rotating black hole operates slightly differently). Neither light nor particles can escape through this surface from the region inside, hence the name "black hole". The Schwarzschild radius of the (currently hypothesized) supermassive black hole at our Galactic Center would be approximately 13.3 million kilometres.
Read more about this topic: Schwarzschild Radius
Famous quotes containing the word parameters:
“What our children have to fear is not the cars on the highways of tomorrow but our own pleasure in calculating the most elegant parameters of their deaths.”
—J.G. (James Graham)
“Men have defined the parameters of every subject. All feminist arguments, however radical in intent or consequence, are with or against assertions or premises implicit in the male system, which is made credible or authentic by the power of men to name.”
—Andrea Dworkin (b. 1946)