How the Black Hole is Growing

The Black Hole has barely changed in mass since its initial formation. It has a mass of approximately 22 micrograms, about the weight of a particle of dust or a very fine grain of sand.

Due to a peculiar phenomenon called "Hawking radiation," any Black Hole loses some mass all the time. In the case of the micro-Black Hole now growing inside the earth, it is losing nearly as much mass as it gains each day.

Nearly.

The important point is that it is growing. It is growing very slowly, as the mass it gains each day just barely outweighs the mass it loses to Hawking radiation, but it is growing.

We have calculated that at a certain point, when it reaches a mass of about 25 micrograms, its growth will begin to exceed its losses to Hawking radiation by a significant amount. In a matter of only 5 days after crossing this threshold the Black Hole will begin roughly doubling in size every day.

14 days after crossing the 25 microgram threshold, the Black Hole's mass will be more than one gram, roughly the weight of a paper clip. Just 14 days after that, it will weigh more than a mouse.

Exactly 105 days after crossing that 25 microgram threshold, the Black Hole will have grown to about 1 percent of the mass of the entire earth. When that happens, the earth will collapse into the Black Hole within a single day!

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