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Quantum effects near the event horizon cause black holes to lose mass. The figure is taken from Encyclopaedia Britannica, which is linked in full on this page. Every fact on Mondo Knows names its source rather than repeating an unsourced claim.

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Black holes slowly evaporate over time via Hawking radiation

Quantum effects near the event horizon cause black holes to lose mass

In 1974, physicist Stephen Hawking calculated that quantum vacuum fluctuations near a black hole's event horizon generate particle-antiparticle pairs. One particle falls in while the other escapes, causing the black hole to steadily emit thermal energy and lose mass until it eventually evaporates.

Primordial black holes infographic — NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center · Public domain · source

Where this comes from

Encyclopaedia Britannica

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Tags: hawking radiation, black hole, physics

Black holes slowly evaporate over time via Hawking radiation: the short answers

Where does this come from, and can I check it?: Quantum effects near the event horizon cause black holes to lose mass. The figure is taken from Encyclopaedia Britannica, which is linked in full on this page. Every fact on Mondo Knows names its source rather than repeating an unsourced claim.
Is this really a space fact?: Yes. It sits on the Space shelf, one of 1,090 sourced facts grouped into space, animals, the human body, history, science and more. Category pages collect every fact in the same field.
What else can I read about it?: The links under the fact point to a quiz, game, puzzle or calculator on the same subject, and the shelf below shows related facts. The wording here is original, and quoted phrases are marked as quotations.