Scientists Unveil Mysterious ‘Black Hole Bomb’—A Breakthrough That Could Rewrite Physics Forever

So, scientists have gone and cooked up the world’s first-ever ‘black hole bomb’—and no, it’s not some Avengers villain’s diabolical weapon (sorry, Thanos fans). Instead, a crafty team from the UK’s University of Glasgow has whipped up a mind-bending demonstration that mimics the terrifying power of a black hole, without any of the cosmic destruction (yet). Imagine a tiny spinning cylinder surrounded by magnetic mirrors, amplifying energy in a way that sounds like sci-fi but is pure physics genius. It went off with a pop—not the apocalyptic boom you might expect—but if scaled up, well… things could get seriously explosive. Curious how they managed this feat without actually capturing a black hole? Dive into the wild science behind the scenes and get ready to have your mind blown—gently, for now. LEARN MORE.

Scientists have created the world’s first ‘black hole bomb’ which sort of sounds like a plot from an Avengers movie.

Thankfully, Thanos hasn’t been able to get his hands anywhere near this one as researchers from the UK have managed to develop an accurate demonstration model.

This experimental device is able to theoretically match the devastating power of a black hole, and allows us to learn more about what they are truly capable of.

Rather than recreating an actual black hole, experts from the University of Glasgow substituted it with a mirror arrangement designed to amplify magnetic fields.

Tests showed that the black hole did explode, but ‘nothing serious’ actually happened.

“[It was] more of a ‘pop’ than an actual explosive ‘bang’,” said study co-author and University of Glasgow professor Danielle Faccio.

Although, she warned that ‘if one scaled this up in size, the ‘bang’ would become more serious’.

It’s a world first (Getty Stock Images)

How scientists created the ‘black hole bomb’

So, to get energy from something that’s spinning is nothing new.

Think about how a tennis ball speeds up when hit by a spinning racket. The spin basically transfers the energy to the ball.

And that’s how the experiment works, but with potentially explosive results.

Thanks to the often confusing rules of general relativity, objects spinning near a black hole can seem to gain energy out of nowhere.

Professor Faccio added: “Seen from the outside, you will see an object or wave reflect away from the black hole and gain energy in the process.

“If you now create a surrounding cavity or mirror of some kind so that the wave gets reflected back and forth between the mirror and black hole, you will have a continuous and runaway amplification effect.”

Professor Vito Cardoso, who wasn’t involved in the study, told the MailOnline that the key to creating a ‘black hole bomb’ is something called ‘superradiance’.

Of course, a real black hole wasn’t used (Getty Stock Images)

“In simple terms: if you send sound or electromagnetic waves of very low frequency to a spinning cylinder then certain “modes” will come back with more energy,” the expert from the Instituto Superior Técnico, Portugal, said.

“In other words, energy is transferred from spinning objects to radiation.”

How does the ‘black hole bomb’ work?

In this case, the researchers used a small aluminium cylinder that spins inside three rotating metal coils.

These coils act like mirrors, reflecting magnetic fields back into the system, similar to how light can build up around a spinning black hole.

As the system spins, small magnetic signals get progressively stronger, mimicking the explosive energy buildup predicted near black holes.

Even though we obviously can’t test this with real black holes, this experiment shows the underlying physics is real and can be studied safely here on Earth.