Since Neutrinos are basically massless, and travel at near the speed of light, could they escape a black hole?

Question

First off...I have always been told that NOTHING can escape a black hole. But, in my experience, I have found that there is usually at least one loophole, or exception to the rule, in everything.

I saw a documentary the other night on PBS about neutrino detection and learned that they were not (or hardly at all) affected by electromagnetism and gravity. And that they could travel through matter almost completely undisturbed. This got me thinking about if they could potentially escape, or at least be minimally disturbed, by black holes. Or maybe even pass straight through them completely undisturbed.

My understanding of black holes is that they have an immense gravity and nothing as of yet can be proven to escape them. But my understanding of gravity is that anything with a mass will be affected by it. So...if neutrinos have (practically) zero mass, and they have been proven to not be (practically) affected by gravity, what would happen near a black hole

Also, in my understanding of gravity, it seems that everything that exhibits gravity on another object has a mass itself, and is therefore subject to be affected by gravity. I do not know if this is true for black holes or not. I am (reluctantly) assuming so until proven wrong. So I then have another case for neutrinos passing straight through them. Since they can go straight through matter undistrubed and are negligibly effected by gravity.

Radu, does light have mass? It cannot escape a black hole. Ergo "black".

Answer 1

Once inside the event horizon of a black hole, nothing can escape: not light, not neutrinos. Nothing. There isn't even an escape *route* from within the black hole. Once inside the event horizon, motion in any direction is towards the singularity, and there is not even a direction you can travel that would lead to the outside.

You say, "nothing as of yet can be proven to escape them." The correct statement is that it is proven within the theory of Relativity that nothing whatsoever can escape a black hole (except for Hawking Radiation, which actually escapes the region just outside the hole). If Relativity is correct, then it is proven that nothing can escape the hole.

Your ideas about gravity (only objects with mass have gravity, or only objects with mass are affected by gravity) do not apply. Those ideas are descriptions of Newton's Theory of Gravity, which is a good approximation on Earth but doesn't belong anywhere near a black hole.

The correct theory of gravity, General Relativity, does not require a particle to have mass to be influenced by gravity. It is also a theory of geometry, meaning that mass causes curvature of spacetime. That is how a black hole can warp spacetime so severely that there isn't even an escape route.

Answer 2

Consider that photons are also massless (not "nearly" massless but TRULY massless) and travel at the spead of light, and they can't escape the black hole. If they can't, why would neutrinos be able to?

The massive gravity of a black hole bends space so much that NO object (with or without mass) can leave that space. The space becomes a localized closed curve so anything traveling in that space just continues to travel around in that space.

Answer 3

No, not even light can escape a black hole. Your intuition about a loophole, though, is partially correct. Particles are spontaneously pulled from the vacuum (which is a busy place, btw) *near* the blackhole's event horizon and escape. This results in the bh losing energy and, therefore, mass slowly over time. So, you could then say that mass escapes by proxy, at least.

Answer 4

they wouldnt escape. i think neutrinos are now thought to have mass. light doesnt escape, that's why its a BLACK hole, so why anything else?
its not the mass that does it, its more that the hole is a sink in spacetime

i think hawking came up with something, hawking radiation, which might be of interest to you
tho its not quite 'in' the hole to escape

Answer 5

of cource gentle, and if u dont have self assurance and opt for to verify it just about some day.. hav u ever seen crackers tht explode interior the sky a approaches far off from u, in such situations u see the gentle first however the sound comes after a on an identical time as as a results of fact speed of sound is ver very much less while in comparison with that of sunshine

Answer 6

if Neutrino are massless then they could escape a black hole .But if their masses are near zero ,but not zero they could not escape a balck hole.maybe in lab conditions they are not afected by gravitation .sometines the reality is another and lab conditions are different from real facts.