> > > the difference would be that the blackhole would prob. slowly gain in size as it sucks up dust and other debris it runs across - - -stuff the asteroid would have just plowed into, but not absorbed. . .so as the black hole slowly increases in mass, it starts pulling larger objects, and eventually engulfs the solar system. . . i'd think anyway. . it's been a LONG time since i read Brief History of Time so. . .
> >
> > I'm no scientist, but I don't really think it would even be possible to create a black hole by slamming particles together. The idea behind black holes is an enormous amount of mass compressed into a very small space. Without the mass of a star many times larger than the sun, you couldn't get that kind of effect. Is this right, or am I missing something?
>
> I believe (and I'm not really up on the physics of black holes, either) that the primary fear here is that a miniscule black hole will be formed, and that it will increase in size as Brandon suggested until it gets to the point where it can cause some trouble.
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> Or something like that.
>
> Dar "I think I'll start a band called "The Physics of Black Holes"" ien

if i recall from when i used to read a lot about them, that's exactly what the problem is. there's a theory that there are a LOT more black holes than we at first thought- - but they're really tiny and aren't causing any trouble. All a black hole is is a gravitational mass that's collapsed on itself. theoretically, if you get something dense enough, a tiny little piece of it is enough to make a black hole. Most of the time, it doesn't matter because a tiny black hole goes floating through deep space where it can't engulf anything. . if we create on on earth, tho, it has LOTS of matter to consume, so it could get big, which would be SCARY because it would suck us UP! (to paraphrase BAM and MAM ;)