Prelims 2019 · Q97
Easyहाल ही में वैज्ञानिकों ने पृथ्वी से अरबों प्रकाश-वर्ष दूर विशालकाय ‘ब्लैकहोलों’ के विलय का प्रेक्षण किया। इस प्रेक्षण का क्या महत्त्व है?
Read this question in English
Recently, scientists observed the merger of giant 'blackholes' billions of light-years away from the Earth. What is the significance of this observation?
(a) 'Higgs boson particles' were detected. · (b) 'Gravitational waves' were detected. · (c) Possibility of inter-galactic space travel through 'wormhole' was confirmed. · (d) It enabled the scientists to understand 'singularity'.
उत्तर और व्याख्या · explanation in English
Answer: (b) ‘गुरुत्वीय तरंगों’ का अभिज्ञान हुआ।
The merger of two black holes was significant because it produced gravitational waves, ripples in space-time that scientists detected directly for the first time on 14 September 2015 using the LIGO detectors. The waves, predicted by Einstein a hundred years earlier, travelled for 1.3 billion years before reaching Earth.
- ✓ (b) The Nobel Prize in Physics 2017 press release says the first observed gravitational waves came from a collision between two black holes. An Indian team was part of the group that announced the discovery in 2016.
- ✗ (c) NASA states that black holes do not provide shortcuts between different points in space, so nothing about travel through wormholes was confirmed.
- ✗ (a) The Higgs boson is a particle searched for in particle-physics experiments; the black-hole merger observation was about gravitational waves, not that particle.
- ✗ (d) The observation is remembered for detecting gravitational waves, not for explaining the 'singularity' inside a black hole.
Remember · First direct detection of gravitational waves (LIGO, 14 September 2015): two black holes merging about 1.3 billion light-years away; Nobel Prize in Physics 2017.
📘 Read it in NCERT: Class 11 Knowledge Traditions and Practices of India, Part I, Ch 5 (practise this chapter)
Sources
- NCERT Class 11 · Knowledge Traditions and Practices of India, Part I, Chapter 5 “A team of Indian Scientists was a part of the group which announced in 2016, the discovery of gravitational waves predicted by Einstein.”
- The Nobel Prize in Physics 2017, press release (Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences) ↗ “On 14 September 2015, the universe’s gravitational waves were observed for the very first time. The waves, which were predicted by Albert Einstein a hundred years ago, came from a collision between two black holes.”
- NASA Science, Black Holes ↗ “They don’t provide shortcuts between different points in space, or portals to other dimensions or universes.”
Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2019, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink ·