08. What are the chances of falling into or being sucked into a black hole? (A K2S Question)

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Actually, even with black holes, gravity rules! So, black holes do not suck in matter like some cosmic vacuum cleaner—their enormous concentration of mass results in a warping or bending of space in their vicinity (according to Einstein's theory of relativity). In other words, objects coming close to a moderate-sized black hole would behave normally by going into orbit around it according to the force of gravity exerted by the black hole. Only if you came closer than a certain well-defined distance would the force of gravity deviate from what would be predicted by a simple application of Newton's law.

Answer provided by Jim Zebrowski


Image:K2S logosmall.jpg Question and Answer extracted from the book Kids to Space - by Lonnie Schorer


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