Tungsten Black Hole Model
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If you compress any amount of mass, it becomes denser. If you compress it enough, it will become so dense that light can no longer escape it—this size is the object’s Schwarzschild radius. An object that is compressed smaller than this radius is a black hole.
This tungsten sphere has been engineered to have exactly the same radius as the Schwarzschild radius of Earth. If you compressed all of the mass of Earth into the volume of this tiny sphere, it would be so incredibly dense that you would not even be able to see it.
This sphere is a great aid for comprehending the scale of black holes and their extreme density. Made of tungsten, one of the densest elements in the universe, to help illustrate the high density of such an object. Also makes a great tungsten (W, 74) sample for element collectors.
Every object has a Schwarzschild radius proportional to its density: the Sun's is 3km, Jupiter’s is 2.62m, and a hamburger’s is smaller than a single atom. Karl Schwarzschild derived this property in 1915 using Einstein’s recent field equations.
Free "Earth as a black hole" pin with purchase, also pictured.
Derivation (pdf)
Radius: 8.87 mm
Weight: 53.34 g
Density: 18.5 g/cc
Our model was recently used as a visual aid in a lecture on black holes by renown astrophysicist Brian Greene! (Black Hole featured around 22:54, but we recommend the whole lecture!)
Direct link if video fails to load.
CALCULATE ANY SCHWARZSCHILD RADIUS YOURSELF
WHAT IS TUNGSTEN?
Tungsten , or wolfram, is a chemical element with the symbol W and atomic number 74. The name tungsten comes from the former Swedish name for the tungstate mineral scheelite , tungsten which means "heavy stone". Tungsten is a rare metal found naturally on Earth almost exclusively combined with other elements in chemical compounds rather than alone. It was identified as a new element in 1781 and first isolated as a metal in 1783. Its important ores include wolframite and scheelite .
The free element is remarkable for its robustness, especially the fact that it has the highest melting point of all the elements discovered, melting at 3,422 °C (6,192 °F; 3,695 K). It also has the highest boiling point , at 5,930 °C (10,710 °F; 6,200 K). Its density is 19.25 times that of water, comparable with that of uranium and gold , and much higher (about 1.7 times) than that of lead. Polycrystalline tungsten is an intrinsically brittle and hard material (under standard conditions, when uncombined), making it difficult to work . However, pure single-crystalline tungsten is more ductile and can be cut with a hard-steel hacksaw.
Tungsten's many alloys have numerous applications, including incandescent light bulb filaments, X-ray tubes (as both the filament and target), electrodes in gas tungsten arc welding , superalloys , and radiation shielding . Tungsten's hardness and high density give it military applications in penetrating projectiles . Tungsten compounds are also often used as industrial catalysts.
