Introduction

Sinking into the abyss...THE BLACK HOLE!

Black holes, while still pools of mystery as far as most scientists are 
concerned, keep drawing the attention of scientists and citizens alike.  

But what on Earth (no pun intended) is a black hole?  A portal to other 
universes?  A giant vacuum cleaner spelling the doom of humanity?  A galactic 
time machine yet to be tapped?

Everyday scientists are learning more about black holes, but they still 
remain a mystery to many.  Are they a fantasy of science fiction, or a 
physical reality with real impact on our universe?  You discover!

This WebQuest is designed to follow a unit on Newton's Law of Universal 
Gravitation, a topic covered in a high school physics class, but the topic is 
still conceptually accessible to younger students.  Ideally it would also 
follow explanation of escape velocity, a slightly  more mathematically and 
conceptually advanced topic.