Why are Black Holes such massive gravity pools?

AI Thread Summary
Black holes are massive gravity pools due to the immense mass contained within their event horizons, which creates a significant curvature in spacetime. Even wandering black holes, without a nearby supply of matter, exert gravitational influence based on their existing mass. Gravity is not a material entity but a distortion of spacetime, allowing its effects to be felt outside the black hole despite nothing escaping from it. Gravitational waves travel at the speed of light and can interact with the event horizon without exceeding this limit. Understanding these concepts clarifies how black holes maintain their gravitational pull.
Rhadiel
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Hi guys,

Simple question for my first post.

If nothing escapes Black Holes, how come they're such massive gravity pools?

While I can accept that in certain cases the gravity may come from all the mass near the event horizon that did not yet got through (center of Galaxies where it constantly swallows stars), what about wandering Black Holes that don't have a ready supply of matter around them?

Does this mean that the gravitons / gravity waves travel faster than c?

Thanks!
 
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Rhadiel said:
If nothing escapes Black Holes, how come they're such massive gravity pools?

Odd question ... nothing escapes because they ARE such massive "gravity pools" as you call them.

While I can accept that in certain cases the gravity may come from all the mass near the event horizon that did not yet got through (center of Galaxies where it constantly swallows stars), what about wandering Black Holes that don't have a ready supply of matter around them?
The mass is INSIDE the event horizon and has nothing to do with whether or not the black hole is still feeding.

Does this mean that the gravitons / gravity waves travel faster than c?

Thanks!

I understand your question, I think. Because nothing can escape a black hole, you wonder how it is that the mass inside the black hole can have any effect outside the EH. This is more complicate than I can deal with but has been discussed on this forum many time. Try a forum search.

NOT a good idea on this forum to suggest that anything can travel faster than c.
 
Thanks, phinds. You perfectly understood my predicament.

I did a search but I might not have used the correct keywords. I'll try again and be more patient going through the results, I might have overlooked.
 
You mean how can gravity escape the black hole?Well, gravity isn't matter. It is a distortion in space-time. Gravity simply "is"
 
Rhadiel said:
Hi guys,

Simple question for my first post.

If nothing escapes Black Holes, how come they're such massive gravity pools?

Gravity is a result of the curvature of the metric of spacetime. But the metric isn't "something" in the sense that light or matter is "something". It's the framework everything else is within. As such, nothing is escaping the black hole.

Does this mean that the gravitons / gravity waves travel faster than c?

No. Gravitational waves travel through the metric at c. They also travel through black holes. (Or another way to look at it is that the gravitational wave warps the event horizon in a way that it emits the same wave. At least that's what's been explained to me)
 
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