Naked Science Forum

Non Life Sciences => Physics, Astronomy & Cosmology => Topic started by: sohail on 07/10/2007 17:31:53

Title: Black Hole Help!
Post by: sohail on 07/10/2007 17:31:53

So I was reading a Physics book as you do and apparently...

If you are past the event horizon in a black hole, in a rocket, and are perfectly fine etc. (apart from the fact that you are falling towards a black hole!) if you try and fire your rockets away from the singularity you will actually fall quicker into the black hole.

This is because, to kinda paraphrase, without the engines firing you are in free fall, when they start firing due to the principle of equivalence you will feel the effects of the gravitational field (as you are "accelerating" upwards) but because of the way space and time are "mixed up" you will continue to fall at the same rate, so your time slows down and so you fall at quicker to an outside observer.

Can anyone explain this more clearly? What exactly is meant by space and time being "mixed up" and how does it mean you'll fall at the same rate? I've heard that a fall towards a black hole is actually a progression through time and not distance, does that have anything to do with it?

Title: Black Hole Help!
Post by: thebrain13 on 08/10/2007 19:47:50

just my opinion...blackholes are bullcrap

Title: Black Hole Help!
Post by: thebrain13 on 08/10/2007 20:02:18

but in an attempt to answer your question, a moving object falls faster than stationary ones, an object moving at the speed of light falls twice as fast as the normal gravitational pull, relative to...im not sure...I dont know tons about the topic, hence i just asked a question about it. But in a black hole twice as fast as normal is faster than the actual upwards acceleration, hence you fall faster.

Title: Black Hole Help!
Post by: DoctorBeaver on 08/10/2007 20:55:23

I think it goes something like this.

Once you cross the event horizon of a black hole, falling into the singularity becomes inevitable. What was ahead of you in space (the singularity) is now in your future. No matter which direction of space you are facing, the singularity is in front of you time-wise.

So, if you fire your engines, you are accelerating in time. Therefore, even if in space you are facing away from the singularity, in time you are accelerating towards it.