Pengwuino said:It's better to realize that black holes don't just have mass, they have energy in all forms (mass, e/m field energy, angular momentum). So in reality, you could have a bunch of mass that barely doesn't have enough mass to form a black hole, bombard it with a high powered light source, and it will collapse into a black hole because energy, not just mass, gravitates.
Aaronvan said:Don't black hole have mass and spin only?
Generally black holes are of how much mass?Pengwuino said:It's better to realize that black holes don't just have mass, they have energy in all forms (mass, e/m field energy, angular momentum). So in reality, you could have a bunch of mass that barely doesn't have enough mass to form a black hole, bombard it with a high powered light source, and it will collapse into a black hole because energy, not just mass, gravitates.
PerenialQuest said:I'm just curious, when light enters a black hole, does the black hole gain a little bit of mass? We think of photons as massless particles, but they do have energy, and energy has a mass equivalent, e=mc2 Would the mass gained perhaps be, = hν / c2 ?
kenrocks said:Generally black holes are of how much mass?
Pengwuino said:They also have charge.
phyzguy said:Black holes that we know about (or think we know about) range in mass from a few solar masses to a few billion solar masses.
Yes, light does contribute to the mass of a black hole. According to Einstein's theory of general relativity, any form of energy, including light, can be converted into mass. Therefore, the energy of light adds to the overall mass of a black hole.
As light is absorbed by a black hole, it adds to the mass of the black hole. This increase in mass also increases the gravitational pull of the black hole, causing it to become larger in size.
No, light cannot escape a black hole. This is because the gravitational pull of a black hole is so strong that it traps everything, including light, within its event horizon. This is why black holes are often referred to as "light traps".
Yes, the amount of light absorbed by a black hole does affect its growth. The more light that is absorbed, the greater the increase in mass and size of the black hole. This is why supermassive black holes, which are found at the center of galaxies, are believed to have grown to their enormous sizes by consuming large amounts of surrounding matter and light.
There is no known limit to the amount of light a black hole can absorb. As long as there is light present, a black hole will continue to absorb it and increase in mass. However, as the black hole grows in size, its gravitational pull also increases, making it more difficult for light to escape and be absorbed. This means that the rate of growth will eventually slow down as the black hole reaches a certain size.