Family Astro: Black Holes!

Seven kids and about 10 adults visited the Columbia Astronomy department for an afternoon full of activities designed to teach about Black Holes. First we had a talk explaining that black holes are areas which are so dense nothing can move fast enough to escape out of them. We also learned that black holes are the remains of massive stars which have died. We had a demonstration using stretchy fabric and heavy balls of how gravity is a result of space curving, and put ping pong balls on orbits. We also talked about the extreme densities of black holes what would happen if you fell into a black hole.