Space

0:00:03 > 0:00:07Ground Control to Mission One, do you read me? Come in, please.

0:00:07 > 0:00:11Mission One to Ground Control. Receiving you, loud and clear.

0:00:11 > 0:00:13Prepare to engage transmission.

0:00:15 > 0:00:19Oh, and, by the way, Dr Knowles, where on earth is McCork?

0:00:19 > 0:00:22That's the thing, Colin, I'm not on earth at all.

0:00:22 > 0:00:24I'm in space!

0:00:25 > 0:00:27Wow!

0:00:27 > 0:00:31And we're live from space in ten, nine, eight, seven...

0:00:31 > 0:00:34This is Brain Freeze,

0:00:34 > 0:00:35with...

0:00:44 > 0:00:47Stand by!

0:00:49 > 0:00:53Three, two, one. It's time for...

0:00:56 > 0:00:59Welcome to Brain Freeze, in space!

0:00:59 > 0:01:00Today, we're asking...

0:01:02 > 0:01:06To understand black holes, we first need to talk about gravity.

0:01:06 > 0:01:09Every object exerts a gravitational pull on every other

0:01:09 > 0:01:13and the larger the mass of the object, the stronger the pull.

0:01:13 > 0:01:16We're all familiar with gravity on Earth -

0:01:16 > 0:01:18it's what keeps us from floating away.

0:01:18 > 0:01:21What goes up must come down!

0:01:22 > 0:01:27In space, these gravitational forces keep the moon orbiting the earth

0:01:27 > 0:01:29and the planets orbiting the sun.

0:01:30 > 0:01:33So, what would it be like without gravity, Dr Knowles?

0:01:33 > 0:01:34Let's find out!

0:01:38 > 0:01:41Ah! Ha-ha! This is brilliant!

0:01:41 > 0:01:43To find out what all this has to do with black holes,

0:01:43 > 0:01:45join us after this break.

0:01:47 > 0:01:52Show's going well, Dr Knowles. What's it like up there?

0:01:52 > 0:01:55Oh, Colin, it's so beautiful!

0:01:55 > 0:01:59Looking back at planet Earth is truly amazing.

0:01:59 > 0:02:07Such a fragile world, so still, so silent, so perfect... Huh?

0:02:07 > 0:02:12Hey, Doctor, look at the way my snot behaves in zero gravity! Ha!

0:02:12 > 0:02:13Professor!

0:02:14 > 0:02:17Ow! Stupid gravity.

0:02:17 > 0:02:20Stand by in space - we're coming back to you live!

0:02:25 > 0:02:28So, tell us, Dr Knowles, what is a black hole?

0:02:28 > 0:02:30Black holes are not really holes at all.

0:02:30 > 0:02:33In fact, they're the opposite of empty.

0:02:33 > 0:02:35They're full and a black hole.

0:02:35 > 0:02:39A black hole is an area of such immense gravity that nothing,

0:02:39 > 0:02:42not even light, can escape from it.

0:02:42 > 0:02:45Black holes form when a star collapses in on itself,

0:02:45 > 0:02:47producing a massive explosion.

0:02:47 > 0:02:49Boom!

0:02:49 > 0:02:51All the material left over is thought to have

0:02:51 > 0:02:53a mass of more than ten suns,

0:02:53 > 0:02:57which gets squashed into a sphere roughly the size of New York City.

0:02:57 > 0:03:02It's so small now and yet so big. I don't understand.

0:03:02 > 0:03:04Imagine if the entire mass of the earth

0:03:04 > 0:03:07was squashed down to the size of a fingernail.

0:03:07 > 0:03:10That would be a lot of gravity.

0:03:10 > 0:03:12It is! And that's why other, smaller objects

0:03:12 > 0:03:15are pulled towards it and trapped inside.

0:03:15 > 0:03:18Oh, I hope there are no black holes around here!

0:03:18 > 0:03:19Not to worry, Professor -

0:03:19 > 0:03:22the nearest one is hundreds of light years away.

0:03:22 > 0:03:23I think we're pretty safe.

0:03:23 > 0:03:25See you next time!

0:03:26 > 0:03:29Brain Freeze from space - we are clear! Oh!

0:03:29 > 0:03:32Ms...Ms Hucklebuck?

0:03:32 > 0:03:34Ms Hucklebuck?!

0:03:34 > 0:03:38MS HUCKLEBUCK SCREAMS

0:03:39 > 0:03:42Erm... Dr Knowles?

0:03:42 > 0:03:44What's that tiny dot, there?

0:03:44 > 0:03:47You mean...the one heading straight for us?

0:03:59 > 0:04:00- BOTH:- Whoa!

0:04:00 > 0:04:04Oh, hello there. Any chance of a lift home?

0:04:04 > 0:04:07- This is nuts! - Ha! She's bonkers, that one.