and doesn't have mass, and gravity is attraction between 2 bodies with mass, how can a black hole's gravity be so strong that light cant escape it?
2006-11-26 10:06:20 · 8 answers · asked by Mark H 2 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Physics
the reason that light cannot escape black holes (or anything else for that matter) is that the high mass of the black hole causes the spacetime to bend around it. Think of the universe as a large sheet of linnen stretched out at all 4 corners. when we put masses onto the sheet, the mass makes a dent in the linnen, this is representative of the effect of stars on spacetime.
A black hole would be represented by a bottomless hole in our linnen, as if we had placed an extremely large mass on the cloth. because light does not move through 'classical space' but space-time, it will enter the black hole and be bent around the central singularity (it's like if you walked straight forward in a circular room and the room twisted around so that you could only ever walk in circles).
2006-11-29 21:24:56 · answer #1 · answered by william k 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Imagine you have a perfect little machine that can convert mass to energy (as light) and back again.
You put one at the bottom of a 100m tower, convert 1 kg of mass to energy, shine it to the top of the tower, and then convert it back again.
Now, it should take 1 kg x 10 m/s/s x 100 m = 1 kJ of energy to lift the 1 kg mass to the top of the tower. But the light got there for free.
This cannot possibly be correct.
The only answer is that light is indeed affected by gravity, and this thought experiment led to general relativity.
How it is affected by gravity at a quantum level is still unkown.
2006-11-26 10:31:40 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Light has at times the properties of a wave and a particle. I believe it's call wave/particle duality.
That may explain why light can't escape from a black hole's gravitional field.
2006-11-26 10:23:59 · answer #3 · answered by Darth Emiras 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Light is both a particle and a wave. You can perform experiments with light that demonstrate it has both properties, though you can't do this at the same time. In fact, everything can be thought of as a wave at some level. Any object has what is called a De Broglie wavelentgth given by Planck's constant divided by it's momentum.
2006-11-26 13:47:59 · answer #4 · answered by ZeedoT 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Masses warp space around them, causing light to be redirected along a different path. Look up 'gravitational lensing'.
Edit: Light is a particle AND a wave.
2006-11-26 10:14:05 · answer #5 · answered by eri 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
mild waves are electromagnetic waves. "mild waves" are we we can see contained in the seen mild spectrum with hues. Infrared and ultraviolet are also electromagnetic waves, yet our eyes won't be able to see them.
2016-11-29 19:46:05 · answer #6 · answered by nastasi 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Light is not a wave. It is made up of photons.
2006-11-26 10:08:59 · answer #7 · answered by Sophist 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
light is a wave-particle duality.
2006-11-26 10:14:53 · answer #8 · answered by Stay Puft Marshmallow Man 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋