- #1
ColonelTravis
- 5
- 0
Physics mega-novice (i.e. moron) here, so I'm probably not thinking correctly about these things. Just curious which item below is close to what's generally understood about light and black holes. Maybe none are nowhere near being close, I would not be surprised.
Concept #1
A gravitational field starts at the center of an object and then goes out farther and farther, eventually dissipating but not technically ending, correct? From what I understand, a black hole isn't like a bucket or vacuum cleaner or something. But does that necessarily mean it's 2D and not 3D? Haven't seen that description before. So I'm wondering if gravity is something of a predator - starts at the center of a black hole, bolts out to whatever distance the event horizon is, grabs the light and then brings it back in. This might be another way of saying gravity has two forces - one that goes out and one that comes back. If Mr. Newton heard this, I'm sure he'd want throw a bunch of rotten apples in my face.
Concept #2
Gravity just sits there like a spider, waiting for some poor slob photon to crash into the web. In this case gravity is (for a lack of a better description) passive, while gravity in the previous example is active.
Concept #3
Gravity warps light around a black hole so much that light can do nothing but orbit what's left of a crushed dead star. Except this act of orbiting is cloaked by gravity and you can't see it.
Concept #4
Gravity sucks equal amounts of light from all directions, except the light does not orbit - everything drains into a single point in the center.
In the first two items above, I'm envisioning light heading into a black hole in the shape of a funnel. But I don't understand how gravity can force light into one spot that way. Wouldn't gravity need to be an equal opportunity sucker, since it came from a collapsed star that (presumably) collapsed evenly like a leaking balloon? That's my thinking with the other two items.
Either way, does fast light equal strong light? Plenty things in the universe are strong yet slow, just like you've got stuff that's slow and weak. I understand light is light. You can't say it's like something else, because there is nothing else like it. But let's say light has been slowed down - like when the Harvard people dropped the speed down to 30-some mph not long ago. Would slow light enter a black hole with less resistance than normal speed light? Or does the speed of gravity, if it really puts its nose to the grindstone, beat light to the event horizon door no matter what?
Concept #1
A gravitational field starts at the center of an object and then goes out farther and farther, eventually dissipating but not technically ending, correct? From what I understand, a black hole isn't like a bucket or vacuum cleaner or something. But does that necessarily mean it's 2D and not 3D? Haven't seen that description before. So I'm wondering if gravity is something of a predator - starts at the center of a black hole, bolts out to whatever distance the event horizon is, grabs the light and then brings it back in. This might be another way of saying gravity has two forces - one that goes out and one that comes back. If Mr. Newton heard this, I'm sure he'd want throw a bunch of rotten apples in my face.
Concept #2
Gravity just sits there like a spider, waiting for some poor slob photon to crash into the web. In this case gravity is (for a lack of a better description) passive, while gravity in the previous example is active.
Concept #3
Gravity warps light around a black hole so much that light can do nothing but orbit what's left of a crushed dead star. Except this act of orbiting is cloaked by gravity and you can't see it.
Concept #4
Gravity sucks equal amounts of light from all directions, except the light does not orbit - everything drains into a single point in the center.
In the first two items above, I'm envisioning light heading into a black hole in the shape of a funnel. But I don't understand how gravity can force light into one spot that way. Wouldn't gravity need to be an equal opportunity sucker, since it came from a collapsed star that (presumably) collapsed evenly like a leaking balloon? That's my thinking with the other two items.
Either way, does fast light equal strong light? Plenty things in the universe are strong yet slow, just like you've got stuff that's slow and weak. I understand light is light. You can't say it's like something else, because there is nothing else like it. But let's say light has been slowed down - like when the Harvard people dropped the speed down to 30-some mph not long ago. Would slow light enter a black hole with less resistance than normal speed light? Or does the speed of gravity, if it really puts its nose to the grindstone, beat light to the event horizon door no matter what?