My understanding is that we do not know. The mathematical term is a “singularity” – all the equations stop working. What we do know is that the gravity is so high that it crushes even a beam of light that is trying to get away from it.
That’s a great question. The simplest answer is “we don’t know, and we’ll probably never know”. Since nothing can escape from a black hole (not even light), we’ll never see what’s inside a black hole. However, we can try to make some mathematical calculations about what is going on in black holes. As far as some really smart scientists (like Stephen Hawking) can tell, the only things we know about any particular black hole are a few basic quantities like its total mass, total electrical charge, and total magnetic field. In some sense it doesn’t really matter what’s going on inside, we’re only seeing these total effects from the outside.
Also, be sure not to try to get too close to a black hole! If you fall too close, the gravitational force is so strong that your feet would be pulled with much more force than your head (which is only one or two meters farther away), and you would be, to use the technical term, “spaghettified”.
Wow @nicko24, you dont mess around with the tough ones do you?
Like @Mia, I’m also a little out of my field. I did try to understand the current thinkings when I was at university, but I was always left with a sore head!
I like @Kyler’s response. I’m sure it’s a question he gets asked all the time. I’m not sure whether to be amused or scared by his thoughts. If you fell into a black hole, and inside there was another black hole, would you end up where you started?
My understanding is that we do not know. The mathematical term is a “singularity” – all the equations stop working. What we do know is that the gravity is so high that it crushes even a beam of light that is trying to get away from it.
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I think I’ll leave this one to Kyler. One thing is for sure, whoever went in a black hole wouldn’t be the person telling us what it was like.
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@nicko24
It gets dark?
Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay out of my field – sorry I can’t help with this one!
p.s. I ended up going away and trying to find out – so good on you for asking me a question I REALLY wanted to find the answer to, even though it’s not my area of science! This has some great answers:
http://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/onlinestuff/snot/what_is_a_black_hole_and_what_would_happen_if_you_fell_into_one.aspx — part of it says: “If you fell into one, you’d be ripped apart, fried or trapped forever. Possibly all three.”
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That’s a great question. The simplest answer is “we don’t know, and we’ll probably never know”. Since nothing can escape from a black hole (not even light), we’ll never see what’s inside a black hole. However, we can try to make some mathematical calculations about what is going on in black holes. As far as some really smart scientists (like Stephen Hawking) can tell, the only things we know about any particular black hole are a few basic quantities like its total mass, total electrical charge, and total magnetic field. In some sense it doesn’t really matter what’s going on inside, we’re only seeing these total effects from the outside.
Also, be sure not to try to get too close to a black hole! If you fall too close, the gravitational force is so strong that your feet would be pulled with much more force than your head (which is only one or two meters farther away), and you would be, to use the technical term, “spaghettified”.
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Wow @nicko24, you dont mess around with the tough ones do you?
Like @Mia, I’m also a little out of my field. I did try to understand the current thinkings when I was at university, but I was always left with a sore head!
I like @Kyler’s response. I’m sure it’s a question he gets asked all the time. I’m not sure whether to be amused or scared by his thoughts. If you fell into a black hole, and inside there was another black hole, would you end up where you started?
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