Thread: NASA baby photos from a black hole

I imagine black holes like bathtub drains. Eventually we're all going down the tubes.

The same place as all the socks I lose in the dryer.

Originally Posted by ***COMMANDER***

After reading about that HUNGY black hole and what it was gobbling up, I can see why you would say that.....

What I don't understand though, is when it does go down the black hole, what happens to it or where does it go?

Short answer: It gets packed into a high mass singularity (a point-like particle). Some of the mass does get lost as radiation though.

The thing with black holes is that no one really knows what happens to the matter that is consumed by them. There are a lot of theories out there as to where everything goes, but most of it is just gas and particles that collide together as they cross the event horizon and release much of their energy that way. If you want to know more, check this out: Black hole - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Theres a lot of good stuff there if you are really interested in things like this.

Originally Posted by DJ Mr. White

Short answer: It gets packed into a high mass singularity (a point-like particle). Some of the mass does get lost as radiation though.

What about the law of conservation of matter? Does the conversion of matter into radiation in a black hole adhere to this principle?

Eh, conservation of energy is what holds. Conservation of matter is a classical derivative of that in my opinion.

Originally Posted by Consultant

What about the law of conservation of matter? Does the conversion of matter into radiation in a black hole adhere to this principle?

i think white is pretty much right

from wikipedia:
"According to the theory of relativity, mass and energy as commonly understood, are two names for the same thing, and neither one is changed or transformed into the other. Rather, neither one appears without the other. Rather than mass being changed into energy, the view of relativity is that rest mass has been changed to a more mobile form of mass, but remains mass. In this process, neither the amount of mass nor the amount of energy changes. Thus, if energy changes type and leaves a system, it simply takes its mass with it. If either mass or energy disappears from a system, it will always be found that both have simply moved off to another place."