Are black holes actually holes?

In summary, the conversation discusses the concept of black holes and their properties, specifically their event horizon and the theories surrounding what happens inside. Some theories suggest that black holes may not actually be holes, but rather remnants of collapsed stars with incredibly strong gravity. However, our current understanding of physics breaks down at the event horizon, making it difficult to fully understand what occurs inside. Despite this, the theory of general relativity has been successful in predicting and explaining many observable phenomena related to black holes. While we may not have direct scientific proof, observations of black holes in the universe support the theories about their existence and properties.
  • #1
Boca
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TL;DR Summary
Are black holes actually holes?
I have been curious if there is anything that would prevent a star that has the mass to supernova from going supernova at the end of its life. If that were possible could it then also be possible that black holes are not actually holes but something so massive that light and anything that comes close enough will be drawn to it and since no light is able to escape it looks as though it fell into a hole.
 
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  • #2
You hit the nail on the head. Black holes are not holes. They are left over remnants from a collapsed star where the gravity is so strong that nothing can escape. Falling into a black hole doesn't put you 'somewhere else' in the universe (like a hole might), you're just behind the event horizon.
 
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  • #3
Indeed, we don't know what occurs after you cross that event horizon, we can only guess based on our current understanding of physics. Unfortunately General Relativity breaks down at this point so cannot provide a clear picture, the equations cease to make sense as I understand it. We believe that everything ends up in a singularity.

There are many theories / ideas of what might happen but these are all speculation at this time. This is one of those questions that we may likely never solve. A new theory of gravity may emerge in the future that does a better job of explaining what might be occurring inside, unfortunately I do not see a way of us ever being able to test any theory's that emerge due to the fact no information can escape the black hole for us to measure.
 
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  • #4
Thank you for your replies. I also imagine if one were somehow unaffected by the forces the view from inside the event horizon would be very bright.
 
  • #5
MikeeMiracle said:
Indeed, we don't know what occurs after you cross that event horizon, we can only guess based on our current understanding of physics. Unfortunately General Relativity breaks down at this point so cannot provide a clear picture, the equations cease to make sense as I understand it. We believe that everything ends up in a singularity.
General relativity does not break down at the event horizon. It models space-time at and beyond the horizon. Its predictions for the neighborhood of the singularity, however, involve curvatures which exceed all finite bounds. It is expected that those predictions become incorrect at some point.
 
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  • #6
I describe a Black Hole as anybody that has an escape velocity that equals or exceeds the speed of light in a vacuum. Forces such as gravity and magnetism are unaffected. Do you agree?

Thanks
George Dowell
 
  • #7
geoelectronics said:
I describe a Black Hole as anybody that has an escape velocity that equals or exceeds the speed of light in a vacuum. Forces such as gravity and magnetism are unaffected. Do you agree?
A black hole is a portion of the geometry of space time. It is not a body at all. The model of general relativity predicts that black holes contain [almost] nothing but vacuum everywhere. No material object can exist in the interior of a black hole for longer than it takes to fall to the singularity. In general relativity, gravity is not a force. Magnetism is affected by space-time geometry. Purely magnetic effects cannot cross the horizon outbound any more than electromagnetic effects (light waves) can.

But yes, the escape velocity of a black hole at its event horizon is equal to the speed of light.
 
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  • #8
Curious why there are so many matter-of-fact post regarding black holes? We have no scientific proof of anything regarding black holes, so why do we have so many people posting information as if it scientifically proven?
 
  • #9
HankDorsett said:
We have no scientific proof of anything regarding black holes

But we have a theory - general relativity - that works so good and gives such an accurate predictions regarding so many observable phenomena that there is no reason to think that what it says about this single topic is completely wrong. Besides, what you say is wrong, we observe black holes in many places in the Universe and we can check some facts about them.
 
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  • #10
weirdoguy said:
But we have a theory - general relativity - that works so good and gives such an accurate predictions regarding so many observable phenomena that there is no reason to think that what it says about this single topic is completely wrong. Besides, what you say is wrong, we observe black holes in many places in the Universe and we can check some facts about them.
We have many theories on black holes Beyond Einstein, I'm curious if any of the information given in this post was from something other than relativity. What have we actually observed from a black hole? We only have an image as well as posable locations of a few. We can only theorize how they are made, what's going on inside and what they can do.
 
  • #11
HankDorsett said:
We have many theories on black holes Beyond Einstein

Can you name few of them and tell us what is their empirical status? How they cope with eplaining thousands of observations, that GR explains well to great accuracy?

HankDorsett said:
What have we actually observed from a black hole?

I think it's pretty easy to find out using google. E.g. this:
https://arxiv.org/pdf/1312.6698.pdf
 
  • #12
I'll try to remember some of the various theories I've heard lately and post them soon. As I do, can you list all of the scientific observations we have with black holes?
 
  • #14
weirdoguy said:
Can you name few of them and tell us what is their empirical status? How they cope with eplaining thousands of observations, that GR explains well to great accuracy?
I think it's pretty easy to find out using google. E.g. this:
https://arxiv.org/pdf/1312.6698.pdf
I'm wondering if I'm using the wrong term here regarding observation. rewording my question, what has been scientifically proven with black holes? I started reading the document you posted and I'm wondering if it's mainly theoretical, were they able to collect data to prove what they are saying?
 
  • #15
HankDorsett said:
Curious why there are so many matter-of-fact post regarding black holes? We have no scientific proof of anything regarding black holes, so why do we have so many people posting information as if it scientifically proven?

Wow. That's really gunning for bear, isn't it? That's not so much a question as a very, very bold claim.

HankDorsett said:
what has been scientifically proven with black holes?

That's not really a reasonable question. "Please write down everything we know about transistors" or "fluid dynamics" or any of a number of things is equally problematic.

Perhaps a better starting point is for you to do your own research and ask us specific questions.
 
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  • #16
HankDorsett said:
We have no scientific proof of anything regarding black holes, so why do we have so many people posting information as if it scientifically proven?
HankDorsett said:
We have many theories on black holes...

What have we actually observed from a black hole? We only have an image as well as posable locations of a few. We can only theorize how they are made, what's going on inside and what they can do.
This is a mixture of misunderstandings about the scientific method and black holes. A "theory" is an idea that is already well supported by evidence. And there is a lot more observational evidence about black holes than you apparently realize, when you apply what is known from the rest of General Relativity and other theories related to black holes, which we should.

Just by knowing the mass and approximate size of a black hole, you know based on our understanding of the structure of matter what it can NOT contain. That's what speculations such as the OP are about - it's not about GR or even directly about black holes. E.G., we know a black hole isn't just a big neutron star mostly because of what we know about neutrons/neutron stars: a neutron star isn't/can't be that dense.
 
  • #17
We know there are objects that are extremely compact and don't emit light. We call them black holes. While there are no proofs in physics in general their existence has been shown beyond reasonable doubt. We know they cause time dilation as predicted by general relativity, we know their innermost stable orbits are at the place general relativity predicts, we know that no type of matter can resist a collapse at the size of these black holes. We know they merge with the gravitational wave signals we expect from general relativity. And many more things. Outside they behave like general relativity predicts in every way we could test so far. We can't study what happens inside, that's the point of a black hole, but it also doesn't matter for the outside. People are posting this as fact because it is one.
geoelectronics said:
Forces such as gravity and magnetism are unaffected.
They are affected by the modified spacetime geometry just like everything else. In fact - gravity is this modified spacetime geometry. With the same result: What happens inside can't influence what happens outside.
 
  • #18
We have directly observed an object at the centre of our galaxy
- whose huge mass we can determine, based on the period of the stars orbiting it, and
- whose physical radius we can set an upper limit on, based on the near apsis (closest approach) of stars orbiting it.

Such a small object with such a huge mass cannot be explained by anything in our physics except for what we call a black hole.

Black-hole-workable.gif
Also, here is an image of one:
1565493349016.png
 
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  • #19
MikeeMiracle said:
Unfortunately General Relativity breaks down at this point so cannot provide a clear picture, the equations cease to make sense as I understand it.

. . .unfortunately I do not see a way of us ever being able to test any theory's that emerge due to the fact no information can escape the black hole for us to measure.
Thank you. . . . :ok:

HankDorsett said:
Curious why there are so many matter-of-fact post regarding black holes? We have no scientific proof of anything regarding black holes, so why do we have so many people posting information as if it scientifically proven?
Thank you. . . . :ok:

.
 
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  • #20
"Unfortunately General Relativity breaks down at this point so cannot provide a clear picture"

I have considered this position with interest over many years including the conclusion that the equations leads to a point source. Within maths, infinity whether infinitely small or large, is a defined limit which does not indicate either a point source or an infinitely large expanse. Rather a point at which it is not possible to mathematically define any further mathematical reality.
It seems that the event horizon represents only a information limit at which point the curvature becomes undefined. How far that curvature continues from this point though obviously towards the centre, does not need to imply a point source. Although arguably even as energy this will be passingly small, there may or will be a point where the collapse encounters a barrier imposed by the properties of that energy and the curvature may then be considered to be flat.
 
  • #21
trevor white said:
It seems that the event horizon represents only a information limit at which point the curvature becomes undefined.
The curvature is perfectly well defined at the event horizon. And beyond. It is defined for every point in the space-time. It is not defined at the singularity. But the singularity is not part of the space-time.
 
  • #22
jbriggs444 said:
The curvature is perfectly well defined at the event horizon. And beyond. It is defined for every point in the space-time. It is not defined at the singularity. But the singularity is not part of the space-time.
This appears to be a statement of what I had indicated rather than an answer to the questions also contained in my comment?
 
  • #23
trevor white said:
This appears to be a statement of what I had indicated rather than an answer to the questions also contained in my comment?
Yes. He was simply correcting an error in one part of what you said (the part he quoted).
 
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  • #24
It was though not an error what I question was that idea.
 
  • #25
trevor white said:
It was though not an error what I question was that idea.
The event horizon is not a place where the curvature becomes undefined.
 
  • #26
that information can not escape a black hole sic why would that be the default position?
 
  • #27
I'm having trouble discerning whether your questions are inter-related.
Are you still asking about why the curvature is well-defined at the EH? Or is this a new question? I'll assume it's a new question.

trevor white said:
that information can not escape a black hole sic why would that be the default position?
What do you mean by 'default position'? Do you mean why do scientists assume it to be so?

Well, it's not an assumption. Einstein's GR predicts BHs. With sufficient mass in a compact enough volume, space-time becomes so curved that even light cannot escape - the escape velocity exceeds c. Having GR predict such a possibility, we went looking for it, and found it.

If light cannot escape the gravity well of a massive object, then neither can information.
 
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  • #28
From the National Science Foundation:

Black holes are extremely dense pockets of matter, objects of such incredible mass and miniscule volume that they drastically warp the fabric of space-time. Anything that passes too close, from a wandering star to a photon of light, gets captured. Most black holes are the condensed remnants of a massive star, the collapsed core that remains following an explosive supernova. However, the black hole family tree has several branches, from tiny structures on par with a human cell to enormous giants billions of times more massive than our sun.
[ . . .]

HOW ARE BLACK HOLES STUDIED?
Black holes have long inspired the imagination yet challenged discovery. However, from a combination of theory and observation, scientists now know much about these objects and how they form, and can even see how they impact their surroundings.
[ . . . ]
So, how does one study a region of space that is defined by being invisible?
Theorists can calculate properties of black holes based on their understanding of the universe, and such discoveries have come from a range of great thinkers, from Albert Einstein to Stephen Hawking to Kip Thorne. However, despite being so powerful, it's hard to see something that does not emit photons, let alone traps any light that passes by.

Now, nearly a century after scientists suggested black holes might exist, the world now has tools to see them in action. Using powerful observatories on Earth, astronomers can see the jets of plasma that black holes spew into space, detect the ripples in space-time from black holes colliding, and may soon even peer at the disc of disrupted mass and energy that surrounds the black hole's event horizon, the edge beyond which nothing can escape.
# # #
https://www.nsf.gov/news/special_reports/blackholes/
 
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  • #29
Mary Conrads Sanburn said:
Black holes are extremely dense pockets of matter, objects of such incredible mass and miniscule volume that they drastically warp the fabric of space-time.

Ironically:
-black holes are vacuum
-there is no meaningfull way to assign a volume to them
-there is no meaningfull way to assign a density to them
-there is no fabric of space-time
-they don't warp space-time, they are speciffically warped space-time


Long live pop-science!
 
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  • #30
weirdoguy said:
Ironically:
-black holes are vacuum
-there is no meaningfull way to assign a volume to them
-there is no meaningfull way to assign a density to them
-there is no fabric of space-time
-they don't warp space-time, they are speciffically warped space-timeLong live pop-science!
haha yup, agree with you...
and there's more

Mary Conrads Sanburn said:
astronomers can see the jets of plasma that black holes spew into space,

The jets, that have actually been observed for many years, at radio wavelengths, don't come from
within the black hole as such but from an area OUTSIDE the black hole
 
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  • #31
The National Science Foundation (NSF) is an independent federal agency created by Congress in 1950 "to promote the progress of science; to advance the national health, prosperity, and welfare; to secure the national defense..." NSF is vital because we support basic research and people to create knowledge that transforms the future. This type of support:
  • Is a primary driver of the U.S. economy
  • Enhances the nation's security
  • Advances knowledge to sustain global leadership
With an annual budget of $8.1 billion (FY 2019), we are the funding source for approximately 27 percent of the total federal budget for basic research conducted at U.S. colleges and universities. In many fields such as mathematics, computer science and the social sciences, NSF is the major source of federal backing.
We fulfill our mission chiefly by issuing limited-term grants -- currently about 12,000 new awards per year, with an average duration of three years -- to fund specific research proposals that have been judged the most promising by a rigorous and objective merit-review system. Most of these awards go to individuals or small groups of investigators. Others provide funding for research centers, instruments and facilities that allow scientists, engineers and students to work at the outermost frontiers of knowledge.

[. . .]

###
https://www.nsf.gov/about/glance.jsp
 
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  • #32
Mary Conrads Sanburn said:
The National Science Foundation (NSF) is
A source of pop-science malarky in this case.
 
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  • #33
Doesn't matter, they contradict what textbooks on general relativity say.
 
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  • #35
Mary Conrads Sanburn said:
jbriggs444 , perhaps you didn't look at the Staff Directory
It does not matter who says a thing. Wrong is wrong.
 
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<h2>1. What exactly is a black hole?</h2><p>A black hole is a region in space where the gravitational pull is so strong that nothing, not even light, can escape from it. This is due to the extreme warping of space and time caused by the immense mass of the black hole.</p><h2>2. Are black holes actually holes?</h2><p>Despite their name, black holes are not actually holes in the traditional sense. They are not empty voids, but rather incredibly dense objects with a gravitational pull that is strong enough to trap even light.</p><h2>3. How are black holes formed?</h2><p>Black holes are formed when a massive star runs out of fuel and collapses under its own gravity. This causes the star to become incredibly dense and compact, resulting in a black hole.</p><h2>4. Can we see black holes?</h2><p>No, we cannot see black holes directly as they do not emit any light. However, we can observe their effects on surrounding matter, such as the distortion of light and the radiation emitted from their accretion disks.</p><h2>5. Can anything escape from a black hole?</h2><p>Once something crosses the event horizon of a black hole, it is impossible for it to escape. However, there is a theoretical concept called Hawking radiation, which suggests that black holes may emit particles over time, but this has not been observed yet.</p>

1. What exactly is a black hole?

A black hole is a region in space where the gravitational pull is so strong that nothing, not even light, can escape from it. This is due to the extreme warping of space and time caused by the immense mass of the black hole.

2. Are black holes actually holes?

Despite their name, black holes are not actually holes in the traditional sense. They are not empty voids, but rather incredibly dense objects with a gravitational pull that is strong enough to trap even light.

3. How are black holes formed?

Black holes are formed when a massive star runs out of fuel and collapses under its own gravity. This causes the star to become incredibly dense and compact, resulting in a black hole.

4. Can we see black holes?

No, we cannot see black holes directly as they do not emit any light. However, we can observe their effects on surrounding matter, such as the distortion of light and the radiation emitted from their accretion disks.

5. Can anything escape from a black hole?

Once something crosses the event horizon of a black hole, it is impossible for it to escape. However, there is a theoretical concept called Hawking radiation, which suggests that black holes may emit particles over time, but this has not been observed yet.

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