What is the gravitational force like near a black hole?

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SUMMARY

The discussion centers on the gravitational force near black holes, emphasizing that black holes behave like compact masses subject to gravity, similar to stars. Participants clarify that a black hole orbits around the barycenter of a system, such as a black hole and a star. If the Sun were replaced by a black hole of equal mass, the Earth's orbit would remain unchanged. However, the proximity to a black hole significantly increases gravitational force, with a one solar mass black hole having a radius of less than 13 miles, allowing for much closer approaches compared to regular stars.

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  • Understanding of gravitational forces and mass
  • Familiarity with the concept of barycenter
  • Basic knowledge of black hole properties
  • Awareness of orbital mechanics
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  • Research the concept of barycenters in astrophysics
  • Explore the properties and behaviors of black holes
  • Learn about gravitational force calculations near massive objects
  • Investigate the effects of proximity to black holes on surrounding celestial bodies
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Astronomy enthusiasts, astrophysicists, and students studying gravitational physics will benefit from this discussion, particularly those interested in the dynamics of black holes and their interactions with surrounding masses.

Timothy Schablin
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Found this interesting interactive experiment.
http://hubblesite.org/explore_astronomy/black_holes/encyc_mod3_q14.html

In the interactive, it looks like the black hole is orbiting around something. What would it orbit around? Or am I looking at it wrong?
 
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The center of mass of the BH + Star system. :smile:
 
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davenn said:
yup, or more commonly known as the barycentre :smile:
Show-off! :smile:
 
berkeman said:
Show-off! :smile:
hahaha :-p:-p
 
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It's orbiting around a plan ol' star.

Black holes are not magical star-gobbling machines. They are compact masses, subject to gravity, just like any other mass. More to the point, they act on other things like a regular mass does.

If the Sun were replaced by a black hole of the same mass, Earth and the other planets - even Mercury would all happily continue on their merry way as if nothing had changed.

Black holes can easily have a mass similar to a large star, and so will behave like a star in every way. The only tricky bit to dealing with them is that you can get a lot closer to them than you can to a regular star.

For example, you cannot get closer to the sun than its surface - which is 400,000 miles from its centre. But a BH of one solar mass would be less than 13 miles in radius. So you could get 399,983 miles closer to that same one solar mass. And gravitational force squares as you halve the distance - making it about 10 million times greater - when you're that close.

That's where you start to run into problems.
 
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