I Just Had a Weird Idea
We all know a black hole is point in space where gravity is so intense that not even light can escape its pull. Well, sort of. Close enough, anyway.
We also know that, of the four known fundamental forces of the universe, gravity is the weakest. I think the order is Strong force, weak force, electromagnetism, gravity, but I might have the second and third switched. Electromagnetism is the only other one that has influence at a distance greater than atomic radii.
The weird idea I had arises from these two facts. It is this: is it possible for an electromagnetic equivalent of a black hole to exist? An electromagnetic field so strong that no charged particle or wave bundle could escape its pull.
As far as we know, electromagnetic phenomena only occur in the form of dipoles. That is, with a north and south pole and an orientation. Charged particles are attracted to one of the two poles, and move along the lines of force to get there. (I know, it’s more complex than that, electrical charges in magnetic fields, right hand rule and all that. It’s 1 AM; leave me alone.) Gravity, by contrast, is monopolar. Everything gets pulled directly toward the center regardless of relative position. So, a collapsed EM field generator might be self-extinguishing.
But if they can exist, do they? Because EM force is stronger than gravity, it should be possible to achieve EM collapse before gravity collapse. Light wouldn’t be able to escape either one, but a sufficiently fast-moving neutral particle could escape an EM hole, or even pass through unaffected.
Anyway, just a random notion I thought I’d share.
