Penrose process

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/penrose-process

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?Sir Roger Penrose
2. What is the year of publication?1969
3. How does the Penrose process get energy from a black hole?A particle is sent into the ergosphere and splits into two pieces. One piece falls into the black hole with negative energy, and the other escapes with more energy than it started with.
4. What is an ergosphere?It is a region outside a spinning black hole where space itself is dragged around. In this zone nothing can stay still; everything must rotate with the black hole.

Kerr Metric: The mathematical solution in general relativity describing a rotating, uncharged black hole.
Frame-Dragging: The phenomenon where a rotating mass drags the spacetime around it, as described by the Kerr metric.
Event Horizon: The boundary around a black hole beyond which nothing, not even light, can escape.
Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN): The extremely luminous central regions of some galaxies, powered by supermassive black holes.