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If a black hole 12 inches in diameter were situated (say) 10 metres off the ground, what would happen?

And how long would it take to devour the earth?

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    $\begingroup$ Possibly relevant info: The hole would have a mass about 17 times that of Earth. $\endgroup$
    – G. Smith
    Commented Feb 5, 2020 at 5:48
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    $\begingroup$ There isn't any way that you could create the situation that you describe. $\endgroup$
    – ProfRob
    Commented Feb 5, 2020 at 6:40
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    $\begingroup$ Does this answer your question? How fast a (relatively) small black hole will consume the Earth? $\endgroup$
    – John Rennie
    Commented Feb 5, 2020 at 10:35

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Assuming it had no initial momenta, it would quickly drop to the ground. It would instantly start devouring encountered the Earth's matter, as it would continue its travel towards the center. The matter that would be falling into the black hole would grind against itself, because of the friction converting most of its potential energy into heat, and then radiation. The efect would be something similar to a continuous nuclear explosion. I can't tell how long it would take, but eventually the Earth would have melted around the black hole, the melted matter dropping on the black hole and forming an accretion disk (because of the Earth rotation), though some portion of it would be blown away into the space. The disk would then be slowly devoured.

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    $\begingroup$ Since that black hole is 17 times heavier than the Earth, it’s not going to fall down as much as the Earth is going to fall up. $\endgroup$
    – G. Smith
    Commented Feb 5, 2020 at 6:53
  • $\begingroup$ @G.Smith That's a matter of the perspective. $\endgroup$
    – Adam Latosiński
    Commented Feb 5, 2020 at 10:23
  • $\begingroup$ Would a black hole that small survive long enough to eat the Earth, rather than just explosively evaporating all of its energy into Hawking radiation? $\endgroup$
    – nick012000
    Commented Feb 5, 2020 at 13:07
  • $\begingroup$ The acceleration of the Earth would be 17 times that of the hole, and it would move the greater distance. $\endgroup$
    – G. Smith
    Commented Feb 5, 2020 at 16:38
  • $\begingroup$ @nick012000 A hole that size has a negligible amount of Hawking radiation. See physics.stackexchange.com/questions/482169/… $\endgroup$
    – G. Smith
    Commented Feb 5, 2020 at 16:41