Cosmic censorship hypothesis

High school (ages 12+)
Space & Astronomy

Name:

Date:

Step 1 · Read the article

Open the article and read it at the level above. Then answer the questions below in your own words.

https://smallwhale.org/articles/cosmic-censorship-hypothesis

Write what each word means, using the article.

Do not copy the article. Write two things you learned, the way you would explain them to a friend.

Answers below are taken from the article’s stored facts, so they match what the student read.

1. What is the proposer?Roger Penrose
2. What is the year of proposal?1969
3. Why do scientists think singularities are hidden inside black holes?If singularities were visible, physics would become unpredictable and strange, so the hypothesis says they are always surrounded by an event horizon.
4. How does an event horizon keep us safe from singularities?The event horizon is a boundary that light can barely escape from; anything inside it can never send information out, so the strange stuff inside stays hidden.

Singularity: A point in spacetime where the gravitational field is predicted to become infinite, and the laws of physics as currently understood break down.
Event Horizon: The boundary in spacetime beyond which events cannot affect an outside observer; the point of no return for matter and light entering a black hole.
Naked Singularity: A hypothetical singularity that is not enclosed by an event horizon, making its extreme physics potentially observable.
Causality: The principle that every effect has a cause, and that causes must precede their effects in time.