black holes and light

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black holes and light

Postby papernuke » Tue Apr 14, 2009 5:21 pm

If your body entered a black hole, it would be stretched apart and ripped.
What would happen to light entering a black hole?
"Civilization is a race between education and catastrophe."
-H.G. Wells
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Re: black holes and light

Postby zero » Wed Apr 15, 2009 3:20 am

This is due to tidal forces affecting a mass of some size. Since light is without mass or size, there should be such effect on it.

Furthermore, for a sufficiently massive black hole, the tidal forces near the event horizon are negligible. So there would be no ripping apart upon entering it (by which I assume you mean crossing the event horizon) in such a case. "Ripping apart" entering material is not a universal property of black holes in general.
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Re: black holes and light

Postby papernuke » Fri Apr 17, 2009 3:19 pm

I didn't mean necessarily at the event horizon. Once you entered the event horizon, wouldn't the tidal forces get so strong that your body would be pulled into an elliptical shape and then, it would split apart sooner or later?
"Civilization is a race between education and catastrophe."
-H.G. Wells
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Re: black holes and light

Postby zero » Sat Apr 18, 2009 8:49 pm

Maybe. That's one possibility, but we can only speculate as we're unable to observe what happens past the event horizon.
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