Eli5: How do blackholes form and exist?
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All objects with mass have gravity. Gravity appears to us as a force of attraction between objects which increases as distance decreases, and because this is ELI5 let’s leave it at that. Stars, especially the really big ones, exert a huge gravitational force on everything around them, including their own atoms. Usually they’re undergoing fusion reactions which release the heat required to keep atoms apart, but when these fusion reactions run out of fuel and the star dies, there is no longer anything to keep the gravitational attraction in check. Atoms begin squeezing together, as they near eachother gravitational forces become stronger, until every atom of that star occupies an infinitely small space.
This gigantic mass has been compressed so far that near its center, the gravitational pull is so intense not even light can escape. The exact distance to the center where the orbital velocity equals the speed of light is called the event horizon, and anything going beyond that limit can’t escape.
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