How close to the event horizon does an object have to be for it to be sucked into the black hole?

Answer 1

It really depends on a few things, such as the object's speed and direction (velocity) and how close other massive objects are.

In other words, the object can be relatively close to the event horizon, but if moving at a fast enough speed tangential to the event horizon, it will not be sucked in.

Answer 2

The event horizon is also called the Schwarzschild surface and occurs at the Schwarzschild radius. 1.5 Schwarzschild radii is the location of the innermost stable circular orbit. Within 1.5 a rocket would have to continuously fire it's engines to keep from falling into the black hole. You are not sucked into the black hole until you cross the event horizon. Check out the source, some interesting little movies show falling into a black hole, etc.

The equation for the Schwarzschild radius is

radius = 2 G M / c^2
where G is Newton's gravitational constant, c is the speed of light and M is the mass. For a mass of 30 suns, the radius is about 100 kilometers.

But to answer your question, if you are talking about rocks and that sort of stuff, it is possible although not very probable that it could orbit at 1.5 radii from the black hole. But any slowly down and the stuff would fall into the black hole. But a rocket ship, as I mentioned above, could go right down to the event horizon and still get away.

Answer 3

First of all, black holes do not "suck" at all. They simply have a gravitational field surrounding them like any other massive object. Crossing the event horizon assures that you will not come back out. Prior to crossing it, you can still escape the gravitational field of the black hole.

Answer 4

If it is in the black hole's gravity well it is doomed.

Answer 5

i don't know,but i think it would be interesting to be in a black whole:) what do u think?