03-05-2006, 04:56 PM
Wormholes are complicated. Scientists have found that incredibly massive objects (like a black hole) bend space-time. I can explain this through the old-rubber sheet and ball representation. Take a square rubber sheet and put a bowling ball in the middle of it. The rubber sheet is space-time and the ball, of course, is the massive object.
If something is large enough, it can stretch the rubber far down and create an unoccupied space between parts of the rubber sheet. Scientists believe that wormholes can link these two points on the sheet together, thus bypassing a huge amount of space-time.
Since you guys are already in this train of thought with the rubber sheet and ball, I'll go ahead and try to explain what black holes are. As you guys have probably figured out, black holes are incredibly massive objects with intense gravitational pull. Because of it's mass, it bends space-time immensely, so much so that space bends in on itself (like a bottleneck), which explains why photons (particles of light) cannot escape. You don't go to another dimension when you enter a black hole, you just basically enter a trap in which you can never escape. Of course, it doesn't matter anyway because you're long dead.
If something is large enough, it can stretch the rubber far down and create an unoccupied space between parts of the rubber sheet. Scientists believe that wormholes can link these two points on the sheet together, thus bypassing a huge amount of space-time.
Since you guys are already in this train of thought with the rubber sheet and ball, I'll go ahead and try to explain what black holes are. As you guys have probably figured out, black holes are incredibly massive objects with intense gravitational pull. Because of it's mass, it bends space-time immensely, so much so that space bends in on itself (like a bottleneck), which explains why photons (particles of light) cannot escape. You don't go to another dimension when you enter a black hole, you just basically enter a trap in which you can never escape. Of course, it doesn't matter anyway because you're long dead.