ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Gravitational singularity

Gravitational singularity is a big and complicated word which describes a place where gravity becomes so strong that it creates a point in space where everything gets very weird.

Imagine you have a ball and you drop it on the ground. When you do this, the ball falls because of gravity - a force which pulls everything towards the center of Earth. But what would happen if Earth had so much gravity that even the ball couldn't resist it? The ball would be pulled towards the center of Earth and eventually, it would reach a point where it would be so compressed that it would become a small point called a singularity.

Now, let’s take this example and imagine it happening with a star. A star is a massive and incredibly hot ball of gas which shines brightly in the sky. It produces energy by fusing hydrogen into helium and this process creates a lot of heat and light. When stars run out of fuel, they can no longer produce energy and they no longer have the ability to resist the huge force of gravity which is pushing inward. This causes the star to implode and compress inwards. If the star is big enough, it can become so dense that it creates a gravitational singularity.

The weird thing about a gravitational singularity is that it breaks the laws of normal physics. Everything that travels too close to it gets sucked in and disappears without a trace - light, matter, and even time - everything gets trapped inside it. It's like a big black hole!

Scientists study gravitational singularities to better understand the universe and the laws of physics. But remember, even scientists don't know everything about them, so it remains a big mystery!