"Mini-black holes?"

[sans qualia]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/4035747.stm

K, pardon me if I sound like a scientifically illiterate doomsayer, but just how "mini" are they talking about here? Like, so mini that they dissipate almost immediately due to Hawking radiation? Or big enough to, say, eat the planet? Or at least escape to the Earth's core and slowly melt the surface? :scared:

[phantom power]

1. sounds like the kind that would evaporate very quickly.

The sort of thing you'd sure hate to be wrong about :-)

[StClone]

2. I think the article is over-simplifying the result for interest

What I believe they mean is it will mimic the conditions of near Black Hole environment without creating a real Black Hole. I would think all real Black Holes start "mini" and rapidly amass energy from their surroundings from there. I can not see them taking that chance.

[Ready4Change]

3. Mini as in quantum level.

Most current theories hold that these types of very small black holes are created all the time, but are so small level that they "evaporate" before they can gather enough mass to become the larger, much more dangerous variety.

[On the Road]

5. That's Correct

I had heard of microscopic black holes but hadn't read up on them. Here's something from ScienceNews.com on them:

Think of a black hole. No one has ever observed one directly, but chances are that you envision some gargantuan jet-black entity that's far, far away and insatiably consuming any matter or light that comes near it. Some physicists whose job description includes thinking about black holes have conjured up another possibility. They're suggesting that extremely tiny, lightweight versions of these exotic objects could be forming right over our heads when ultra-high-energy particles, called cosmic rays, from space strike atoms or molecules in the atmosphere. Those newly created black holes would then quickly decay, harmlessly raining subatomic particles down onto our planet and ourselves.

http://www.sciencenews.org/articles/20020323/bob9.asp

[flaminbats]

7. like a tiny whirlpool which vanishes when paddling a boat..

Lacking the mass and gravity to completely pull such atoms in on themselves, what makes these microscopic black holes black? What happens to light when pulled into one?

[MostlyLurks]

4. Quit yer worrying!

Black holes are "science", ergo they do not actually exist. And "mini black holes", because they are smaller, exist even less.

[partisan to truth]

6. can you explain more please?

I too am a neanderthal when it comes to black hole knowledge.

[GAspnes]

8. mini-holes are formed at

State Fairs, when the center is removed from the mini-donuts.