What Can Escape a Black Hole? (Almost Nothing — But Not Quite)
What can escape a black hole? Nothing that crosses the event horizon — but Hawking radiation, jets and gravity itself do get out. Here's the clear answer.
Black holes, telescopes, fusion and the physics of Earth, sky and stars.
What can escape a black hole? Nothing that crosses the event horizon — but Hawking radiation, jets and gravity itself do get out. Here's the clear answer.
What would happen if two black holes collide? They spiral in, merge into one bigger black hole, and shake spacetime itself — releasing gravitational waves we can detect.
Is lightning faster than the speed of light? No — nothing is. Lightning's flash travels at light speed, but the bolt itself moves far, far slower. Here's why.
How do telescopes work? They gather and focus light with lenses or mirrors to make faint, distant objects bright and magnified. Refractors vs reflectors, explained.
What is a tokamak? A doughnut-shaped machine that uses magnetic fields to confine superheated plasma so hydrogen can fuse — the leading path to fusion energy.
How does nuclear fusion work? Light nuclei merge into a heavier one, converting a tiny bit of mass into enormous energy — the reaction that powers the Sun.
What causes the northern lights? Charged particles from the Sun hit gases in Earth's upper atmosphere, guided by the magnetic field, making them glow. Explained.
The Pioneer anomaly was a tiny, unexplained deceleration of the Pioneer 10 and 11 probes. For decades it hinted at new physics — until a subtle answer emerged.
The best telescopes for beginners in 2026: how to choose by aperture, mount and budget — plus the telescope types that give new stargazers the best first view.
What is a neutron star? The collapsed core of a dead massive star — a city-sized ball so dense a teaspoon weighs a billion tonnes. Here's how they form and behave.
How do tornadoes form? Warm moist air, wind shear and a rotating thunderstorm combine to create a violently spinning column of air. The physics of tornadoes, explained.
How do solar panels work? Sunlight knocks electrons loose in silicon cells, creating an electric current. The photovoltaic effect, from photon to power, explained.
What is a black hole? A region where gravity is so strong nothing — not even light — can escape. How they form, what an event horizon is, and what's inside. Explained.