Measuring the Mass of a Black Hole

Even the name, "black hole" conjures up mystery and intrigue, yet they are among the most fascinating objects in the universe, and one of the most common. Black holes can range in mass from a few times that of the Sun to millions or even billions of solar masses.
With a brief introduction into the features and behavior of black holes, we introduce how you, with a simple measurement and some basic algebra, can actually calculate the mass of an ordinary black hole.
Purdue astrophysicist Dimitrios Giannios introduces SMAP students to a method for finding the mass of a black hole, given its distance, and allowing students to calculate its diameter.
The folder with the written guide for this lesson can be found here; bit.ly/SMAPSelectedLessons
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The video thumbnail is the design of Jonathan Sullivan-Wood, Purdue Physics and Astronomy.
Timeline:
0:00 Introductions and student's perceptions
4:00 What ARE black holes, really?
8:38 Breakout 1 - black holes and light, modeling gravitational lensing
11:20 Breakout discussion - what did we learn?
13:18 Dissecting a black hole
15:48 The mathematics of the calculations of mass
18:15 Angular size of object in the night sky, micro arc seconds
25:25 Breakout 2 - Let's calculate mass
32:20 Discussion of mass calculations, Q and A