Destroying A Black Hole: Can Alice Escape?

In summary, the conversation discusses the possibility of using antimatter to destroy a black hole and potentially decrease the size of its event horizon. However, there are potential flaws, such as the radiation produced by annihilation possibly increasing the event horizon. It is also noted that the only thing that could potentially destroy a black hole is something with negative mass, which has never been observed.
  • #1
anorlunda
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So we know that Alice can free fall through the event horizon of a black hole and not notice anything. Yet Passing the event horizon is a one way event; no thing and no information can ever exit. (Except Hawking radiation).

As a thought experiment, suppose we bombard the black hole with antimatter thus annihilating the mass? Could that make the black hole white again? At the very least could it make the radius of the event horizon decrease putting Alice outside the horizon once again?

There could be a couple of flaws.

The radiation produced by annihilation might gravitate as much as the mass did. Then the radius of the event horizon would increase.

It could also be true that a particle falling into a black hole can never catch up with another particle that fell in earlier. In that case the antimatter would never meet the matter. No annihilation would occur and the radius of the event horizon would increase.
 
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  • #2
anorlunda said:
So we know that Alice can free fall through the event horizon of a black hole and not notice anything. Yet Passing the event horizon is a one way event; no thing and no information can ever exit. (Except Hawking radiation).

As a thought experiment, suppose we bombard the black hole with antimatter thus annihilating the mass? Could that make the black hole white again? At the very least could it make the radius of the event horizon decrease putting Alice outside the horizon once again?

There could be a couple of flaws.

The radiation produced by annihilation might gravitate as much as the mass did. Then the radius of the event horizon would increase.

It could also be true that a particle falling into a black hole can never catch up with another particle that fell in earlier. In that case the antimatter would never meet the matter. No annihilation would occur and the radius of the event horizon would increase.

Antimatter has positive mass energy, just like matter. You would just increase the size of the BH.

Note, it is possible for a later infaller to catch an earlier infaller, depending on their trajectories outside the horizon. For example, suppose earlier infaller was resisting infall a meter from the horizon until they ran out of fuel. Suppose a later, suicidal infaller was firing thrust at their maximum speeding up their approach, up through and past the horizon. If the suicidal infaller isn't too much behind the unwilling infaller, they will catch up.
 
  • #3
The only thing that could destroy black hole is something with negative mass which has never been observed(all the things we know have positive mass). The BH sucks up everything. No matter what you put whenever something passes the event horizon there is no way back.
And the other thing is that you can't describe the black hole like compilation of particles.
The event horizon is just part of spacetime. And the real matter that came into the black hole is contained in the singularity. At that point ordinary particles can't exist. There is not even clear definition of what spacetime is at this scale.
 

FAQ: Destroying A Black Hole: Can Alice Escape?

1. Can a black hole be destroyed?

No, according to current scientific understanding, black holes cannot be destroyed. They are incredibly dense objects with a gravitational pull so strong that nothing, including light, can escape from them.

2. How does a black hole form?

A black hole forms when a massive star runs out of nuclear fuel and collapses under its own weight, becoming incredibly dense. This process is known as a supernova. The gravitational pull of the collapsed star becomes so strong that it creates a singularity, which is a point of infinite density at the center of the black hole.

3. Can anything escape from a black hole?

According to current scientific understanding, nothing can escape from a black hole. This includes matter, light, and even information. Once something crosses the event horizon of a black hole, it is unable to escape.

4. Can Alice escape from a black hole?

Based on current scientific understanding, it is highly unlikely that anything, including a person like Alice, could escape from a black hole. The intense gravitational pull of a black hole would most likely crush and stretch her beyond recognition before she could escape.

5. Is there a way to destroy a black hole?

There is currently no known way to destroy a black hole. However, some theories suggest that it may be possible to shrink a black hole by feeding it Hawking radiation, which is a type of radiation that is predicted to be emitted by black holes. However, this process would take an incredibly long time and would not completely destroy the black hole.

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