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M$1.00  Funded By Mahalo ? |  March 18, 2009 09:08 PM

If black holes suck in everything, wouldn't the entire universe eventually be lost as a result?

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brittmce brittmce
 
 March 18, 2009 09:31 PM | view on twitter
The short answer is no. The long answer is more complicated.

Black holes pull matter in through extreme gravitational forces. However, the force of gravity is reduced proportional to the SQUARE of the distance. That means that when an object is far enough away from a black hole, the "sucking" force approaches nothing.

In addition, you have probably heard that objects in the universe are moving away from each other. What many people haven't heard, however, is that they are ACCELERATING away from each other. That means that there is some (as yet undiscovered) force that is pushing objects away from each other. This force has overcome the gravitational pull that would bring objects closer together.

Given these two points, no, black holes will not be sucking up the universe anytime soon. Though sometimes these days, looking at our stock portfolio, we wish they would.
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cjd cjd
 
March 18, 2009 09:17 PM | view on twitter
Hi tragiccomedy,

Black Holes only suck matter up to a limited distance - after that it loses its strength. If, let's say there is a planet near the black hole - but it orbits a Sun - it will not get "sucked" in as it is in the orbit of the Sun.

The entire universe could never be sucked in a black hole, unless the size of the hole was large enough to suck the entire universe - which is unlikely.

cjd
Source(s):
You may want to look here for extra research:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_holes

http://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/2008/07/23/2312355.htm


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drmatt drmatt
 
March 18, 2009 09:18 PM
Sooner or later, yes. But, remember, Einstein said it best: E=MC^2. Essentially, energy and matter are exchangeable. Black holes "suck in" a whole lot of matter and radiate a whole lot of energy, so there's an equality there. "Nature abhors a vacuum."

This is from the simple mind of someone whose Physics information is limited only by freshman year information and a REALLY good read of Brief History of Time.

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clarusvisu... clarusvisu...
 
March 18, 2009 10:33 PM
The power of gravity deteriorates greatly with distance (and depends on mass and distance). The reason a black hole's gravity is so strong is because its mass is now in a smaller space (in other words, it isn't TRULY stronger). Stuff can get closer to a black hole than it could to the star it used to be because it can go past the spot where the surface of the star would have been.

If the object is further out than the surface of the star, the star and 'its' black hole pull on it exactly as much. This is actually the answer to your question: no. At all except very close (by astronomical standards) distances, black holes act just like any other body with the same mass, gravity wise.

Here's my favorite astronomer to explain it in more detail:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l2VcJy8dPUM
Source(s):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l2VcJy8dPUM


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millerj millerj
 
March 19, 2009 01:29 AM | view on twitter
Regardless of the intensity of the gravitational attraction of a body, its gravitational attraction obeys an 'inverse square' law, which means that the attracting force decreases with the square of the distance. So black holes are just like stars, planets, and so forth. They can have orbiting bodies (which are continually falling into them) and can suck others to their demise.
Source(s):
Ph.D. in mathematics; general reading in astronomy and friends in astrophysics.


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