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The Skeptics Guide #814 - Feb 13 2021

The Skeptics' Guide to the Universe

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Magnetic Reconnection in the Ergo Sphere Around a Black Hole

If we could make magnetic reconnection happen in the ergo sphere, now I know that's a big thing. The point is that if that happened, it happens and if we could induce it somehow with some technology, then two things would happen. So you have magnetic fields reconnecting right outside the event horizon. Lots of energy is released. That's what happens during this magnetic reconnection. If you do this long enough, the spin of the black hole will no longer be a rotating one. But who cares? You could power your house for a billion years and the black hole would barely slow down. They just gave the free energy gurus a new line to go after.

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