Black hole as a cosmic vacuum cleaner with gravity so strong that not even light can escape it.
Imagine you’re in your room and suddenly feel a strange, quick shake. It’s not an earthquake or a truck passing by—it’s a ripple from another universe reaching you.
That amazing idea might not just be science fiction anymore! Scientists are trying to solve a mystery about a strange space signal they call GW190521. It was a tiny wobble in space that lasted less than a second. But it wasn’t like any space signal they’d seen before.
First, What’s the Difference Between a Black Hole and a Wormhole?
Let’s break it down simply:
A Black Hole: Think of a black hole as a cosmic vacuum cleaner with gravity so strong that not even light can escape it. It’s formed when a huge star collapses. If you threw a ball near a black hole, you’d never get it back!
A Wormhole: A wormhole is like a secret tunnel or a shortcut through the universe (or even to another universe!). Scientists aren’t sure if wormholes are real, but if they are, they could connect two faraway places in an instant. Imagine poking a pencil through a folded piece of paper—the wormhole is the tunnel that lets you skip the long journey across the paper’s surface.
The Mystery Signal
Normally, when two black holes are about to crash into each other, they spin around each other for a long time. Scientists say the signal they send out is like a siren that gets louder and higher-pitched right before the crash. It’s a whole song.
But GW190521 was different. It was just a quick BANG—a sudden burst of energy with no warning. It skipped the song and went straight to the final smash.
Most scientists think this was probably just two black holes that bumped into each other in a weird way. But another group of scientists had a much more exciting idea.
The Wormhole Theory
These scientists, led by Qi Lai, wondered: what if that quick burst wasn’t from a black hole crash? What if it was from a wormhole collapsing?
They think that if a wormhole instantly formed and then collapsed, it would act like popping a bubble. The “pop” would send a powerful shockwave—a gravitational wave—rippling through our universe. And if the wormhole was a tunnel to another universe, the shockwave would ripple through that universe, too!
The Hunt for Answers
So, which is it? A strange black hole crash or a collapsing wormhole? Right now, the black hole idea is a slightly better match for the data. But the wormhole idea is too cool to ignore!
Scientists recently discovered another strange, quick signal like this one. With new, super-sensitive detectors being built, they hope to catch more of these events. The next weird signal they find might finally answer the question: was it just a black hole, or did we just feel a ripple from another universe?
This is why science is so exciting. We are detectives, and the universe is full of unsolved mysteries waiting for us to crack the case
