What is the potential damage gamma rays can do to the earth from black holes.?

Answer 1

Actually, yes.....matter is ejected from black holes. Mostly radio waves. (This is how most holes are detected).

However, gamma rays are ejected also and in VERY VERY VERY RARE cases, a concentrated burst of this radiation will be directed towards a planet. (Called a "Gamma Ray Burst"). If a LARGE burst were to hit the planet, it would completely be distroyed. Think along the lines of Death Star vs. Alderaan. The scary part is that these burst are currently undetectable and cannot be monitered. Take solice in the fact that if the Earth were hit with one, you would be dead before you knew what hit you.

Gamma ray burst have been suspected of causing mass extinctions on Earth before. But a more likely scenerio is a burst only knocking out some satillites and maybe effecting radio communication. (Similar to sun spots)

Its not really something to worry about. Chances of it happening are rarer than winning five different states lotteries at the same time, 20 weeks in a row, while riding a unicycle on your birthday.

Answer 2

Gamma rays are ultra-high energy particles emitted when massive stars collide and form super black holes. The amount of energy released is enormous and that energy travels at the speed of light.

Astronomers first discovered gamma ray events in the 1960's and thought that they were bi-products of some new Soviet space based nuclear weapon. Later on, the first satelite based gamma ray observatory allowed scientists to determine the true source for these events and that these bursts of gamma rays are far more common in the universe than expected. Approximately 1 gamma ray burst is detected every day somewhere in the universe.

If the earth were to be in the direct path of one of these gamma ray bursts, the results would be catastrophic for the earth. The burst would last about 1 minute, boil away the ocean, melt the earth's crust, and create a chain reaction that would completely destroy all life on the planet earth.

Fortunately, we have been lucky enough to avoid such a burst for several million years at least. There are some scientists who believe that we may have been hit by such a gamma ray burst in the past and that it may have been responsible for a mass extinction on planet earth.

Answer 3

To my knowledge, black holes don't emit gamma rays. Their gravity is so strong that nothing gets out - not gamma rays, not light, nothing.

Answer 4

Because these bursts are so intense, one close enough to Earth and pointed at us (they often come in thin beams) could wipe out all life.

But its not very likely. Space is very big, and we would have to be very unlucky to be right on the axis.