Editing 1680: Black Hole

{{comic
| number    = 1680
| date      = May 13, 2016
| title     = Black Hole
| image     = black_hole.png
| titletext = It also brings all the boys, and everything else, to the yard.
}}

==Explanation==
[[Cueball]] is curious as to why [[Black Hat]] has a miniature {{w|black hole}} on his table; Black Hat responds that it "really brings the room together", making a pun on both the black hole aesthetically completing the look of the room as well as it literally "bringing the room together" through its gravitational pull. Evidently the black hole is massive enough to bring the room together optically into visible {{w|Einstein ring}}s by {{w|gravitational lensing}}.

The title text makes a cultural reference to a well-known song lyric from the 2003 song "{{w|Milkshake (song)|Milkshake}}" by {{w|Kelis}}, where the singer brags of her milkshake being so popular that it "brings all the boys to the yard" (what "milkshake" is a metaphor for has never been specified). But in this case, since {{w|gravity}} does not discriminate between which things it pulls,{{Citation needed}} it brings "the boys, and everything else" to Black Hat's yard - and unlike with the milkshake, not by choice. If it wasn't for the house walls (which somehow resist collapsing into the black hole), they wouldn't remain in the yard but would come into the room with the black hole, and then into the black hole itself.

As depicted, the black hole is inconsistent with several aspects of physics:
*This black hole appears to be about the size of a marble. A marble size is approximately Earth's {{w|Schwarzschild radius}}, suggesting this black hole to have Earth-like mass. (Since Cueball and Black Hat are able to stand upright, it suggests the gravitational pull is a fraction of Earth's, Making the black hole's mass also a fraction of Earth's. The black hole may appear visibly larger due to having a visible accretion disc.) See link below.
*A large (and {{w|Earth|massive}}) black hole would bring the room together, in less time than Cueball could converse with Black Hat. The gravitational acceleration of an Earth mass black hole would be of the order of 10<sup>13</sup> m/s^2, and the tidal forces (the difference between the gravity at two points) only an order of magnitude less than that. Cueball and Black Hat would be {{w|spaghettification|spaghettified}} and fall towards the Black hole in a few nanoseconds. For an observer at a safe distance from the room, {{w|time dilation}} would appear to prolong the duration that the room's contents formed a messy {{w|accretion disc}} slightly larger than the black hole. (See link below)
*A black hole with the mass of the Empire State Building would have gravitational acceleration of much less than 0.01 m/s^2, and consequently insignificant tidal forces.  However, unlike the scenario in "Neutron Bullet", it would emit {{w|Hawking radiation}} powerful enough to tear the room apart.
*An uncharged black hole would fall through the coffee table and burrow to Earth's core. Again depending on the mass. If it was an Earth mass black hole Earth would move "up" to the black hole as much as the black hole would move "down" into Earth. See link below
*See [http://www.kickassfacts.com/what-if-a-black-hole-the-size-of-a-coin-suddenly-appears-on-earth/ What if a black hole the size of a coin suddenly appears on earth] for some explanation along the lines of the problems mentioned above.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball is standing near a coffee table as Black Hat approaches. They are presumably in Black Hat's living room. The coffee table has a miniature black hole on top of it, resting on a small pedestal.]
:Cueball: Why do you have a miniature black hole on your coffee table?
:Black Hat: It really brings the room together.

==Trivia==
*The phrase that something "brings the room together" is also a famous line in the cult film {{w|The Big Lebowski}}, where the anti-hero, the Dude, laments the theft of a rug that "really brought the room together".
*[[Randall]] describes a similar scenario in the "Neutron Bullet" chapter of the ''[[What If? (book)|What If?]]'' book, and a black hole of similar dimensions in the ''[[what if? (blog)|what if?]]'' article ''{{what if|129|Black Hole Moon}}''.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Black Hat]]