Stephen Hawking once gave us the famous theorem regarding the Black Holes back in 1971 that has been proven right, using ripples in space time caused by the merging of two distant black holes. The theorem was derived from Einstein's theory of general relativity. The theorem states that "it is impossible for the surface area of a black hole to decrease over time". The theorem boosted interest of Physicists because it was closely related to another rule: The 2nd Law of Thermodynamics, which states that the entropy (disorder) of a closed system always increases.
Recent studies shows that the Physicists' confirmation of the area law seems to imply that the properties of black holes are significant clues to the hidden laws that govern the universe.
A black hole's surface area can't be decreased, which is like the 2nd law of thermodynamics. It also have a conservation of mass as we can't reduce it's mass, so that's comparative to the conservation of energy.
A black hole's surface area is set out by a spherical boundary known as the event horizon (beyond this point nothing, not even light, can escape its powerful gravitation pull). According to Stephen Hawking's interpretation of general theory of relativity, as a black hole's surface area increases with its mass, and because no object thrown inside can exit, its surface area cannot decrease. But a black hole's surface area also shrinks the more it spins, so researchers wondered whether it would be possible to throw an object inside hard enough to make the black hole spin enough to decrease its area.
To test out this theory, the researchers analyzed gravitation waves, or ripples in the fabric of space-time, created 1.3+ billion years ago by two behemoth black holes as they spiraled toward each other at high speed. These were the first waves ever detected in 2015 by the Advanced Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory (LIGO), a 1864 mile long laser beam capable of detecting the slightest distortions in space time by how they alter its path length.
By splitting the signal into two halves - before and after the black holes merged - the researchers calculated mass and the spin of both the original black holes and the new combined one. These numbers, in turn, allowed them to calculate the surface area of each black hole before and after the collision.
The surface area of the newly created black hole was greater that that of the initial two combined, confirming Hawking's area law with a more than 95% level of confidence. According to Physicists, their results are pretty much in line with what they expected to find. The theory of general relativity - where the area law came from - does a very effective job of describing black holes and other large scale objects.
The real mystery however, begins when we try to integrate general relativity - the rules of big objects - with quantum mechanics - those of the very small. Weird events start to take place, wreaking havoc on all of our hard and fast rules, and breaking the law completely.
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