Answer 1:
I can't really give a straight answer (as
you'll see, the pun is somewhat intended) on what
it would be like of two black holes crossed paths.
Known as a binary black hole system, the
two black holes do not necessarily have to be the
same size (though it would probably help the math
a little bit). The math behind black holes
involves something called geodesics, which
can be thought of as math for curved surfaces. The
first geometry you learn occurs strictly on a
plane; this is known as Euclidean geometry.
Astrophysicists use a generalized version of this.
While I cannot adequately tell you what would
happen, I can show you. In an article from just a
few months ago,
article some researchers calculated what two
merging black holes might look like using
different spacetime paradigms. If you look through
the images, you can see that merging two black
holes distorts space in pretty weird ways. Very
little is known about what would happen, but it is
generally agreed that the merging of two black
holes would produce a massive amount of energy
that produces ripples in the spacetime continuum,
known as gravitational waves. We have yet
to observe this.
It also turns out that the idea of black holes
may need rethinking. The notion of black holes
emerges from Einstein's theory of General
Relativity. However, there might be
inconsistencies with quantum mechanics and the
conservation of information (which is essentially
energy). The idea of what a black hole is and what
it does is still a very open area of research and
intrigue. You can read more about it
here . There is also a pretty nice
introductory article in Wikipedia article
in wikipedia that gives an overview without
too much of the math. I also recommend watching
Cosmos with both Carl Sagan and Neil deGrasse
Tyson. They are really quite rewarding, if not
just for the black holes but also universe in
general.
Hope this helps!
Best,
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