why does time stop in a black hole (if it does)?

Answer 1

It doesn't. The simple answer is that we do not know what happens "inside" a black hole. We believe that we know what happens near the event horizon of a black hole and we can extrapolate to objects that fall in and pass the event horizon.

The equations say that the fall is essentially smooth, with ever increasing gravitational forces crushing the in-falling matter. But because all these solutions diverge, they can not be useful at the singularity at the center of the black hole itself.

From experience we know that whenever a physical equation in one theory diverges, it turns out to be incorrect where the divergence occurs and a different and usually more complex theory is needed to describe what is really happening. That theory is called quantum gravity and we don't have it. Plain and simple. And without an experimentally tested theory physicists can not predict what is going on.

Black hole physics is also complicated by the fact that whatever falls inside a black hole is strongly red shifted. So strongly actually, that the information of the state of the in-falling object at the event horizon can never reach us. Therefor the event horizon is a little like Alice's mirror. There is a world on either side but one can not know about it without going through. And if you go through this mirror, you will never get a return ticket... and you can't publish a paper with the results of your measurements, either.

If you want to see a movie of what "it looks like to go through" you can look at

http://casa.colorado.edu/~ajsh/home.html

Answer 2

Time never stops. But not even light can escape the pull of a black hole.

Answer 3

Things do escape from the black hole! But i guess this is elementary stuff to you guys. Anti-mater produced by the black hole itself is exposed to matter, and propelling itself faster than the speed of light outwards. Oh and the answer to your question, time does not stop, time just doesnt exist in it. And because black holes suck them into one infinitly small point, and there is no time in an infinitly small point. If you got flung into a black hole, you couldnt tell that your dead!

Answer 4

Time doesn't stop in the black hole. What happens inside a black hole is that Spacetime (3-d of space plus 1-d of time) itself is curved right back onto itself. What this means I don't think anybody really knows. We have no methods to even approximate what happens at such extreme curvature of spacetime.

Answer 5

The reason time stops, in a black hole, is because time is a function of space. There is no space in a black hole, and the only things that escape from it escape in the form of highly-pressurized x-rays; photons.

Answer 6

If a black hole could exist,anything penetrating the event horizon would have to exceed the speed of light
Time can't exist beyond the speed of light since the minimum time pulse would have to be shortened and it is a quantum entity that would go out of existence if you tried to divide it.

Answer 7

Movement in space creates time, inside a black hole the matter is so densely packed there is no space for movement of matter, no movement, no time.

Answer 8

Everything in the black hole falls into its center with enlarging speed --- speed of light and has no time, no length existing according to relyativistic laws: t=t'/[1-(v/c)^2]^0,5
^2 means square
^0,5 means root
I don't remember exactly. Read in en.wikipedia.org about mechanics in conditions when speed is nearby speed of light.

Answer 9

not sure