Can black holes in space ever become “normal” again?
Dear Straight Dope: After seeing a Discovery Channel show on astronomy which included an explanation of “Hawking radiation” from black holes, I have a question. If the black hole is radiating away particles, however randomly, will the mass of the black hole eventually cross back over the threshold of infinite density and become “normal” matter again? Will a black hole eventually become a brown dwarf that is visible? Or, do black holes, having at one point crossed the critical threshold, retain their infinite density? So to get down to brass tacks, are black holes forever? — Keith S. Sollenberger There are two important things to know about black holes. First, they’re weird. But second, they’re not as weird as most people think. For instance, the gravitational field of a black hole is just like the gravitational field of any other mass. If the sun were instantly replaced by a solar-mass black hole (that is, a black hole having the same mass as the sun), the planets would continue to orb
