Why do black holes have such strong gravitational pull?

[Mabcs]

Why are black holes black even though light(photons) has no mass? Gravity shouldn't affect it.

 

[ImaLooser]

Why are black holes black even though light(photons) has no mass? Gravity shouldn't affect it.

Gravity does affect light. I think even Isaac Newton suspected that. Albert Einstein calculated the effect of gravity on light, and he was right. As far as we can tell, black holes behave quite as he predicted, even though he neither knew nor believed they existed and didn't like the idea.

The modern view is that mass bends space. Everything is effected by that, mass or no mass. In fact, all masses move through space the same way. It doesn't matter how heavy or dense they are, what shape, etc. Space bends the same for everything, light included.

It takes a little getting used to, but it makes sense.

 

[Yosty22]

Thinking about a typical representation of gravity in the classroom, just picture a trampoline with a bowling ball on it. The mass warps the fabric of space time. As stated above by ImaLooser, Einstein calculated the effect of gravity on light. Since light is affected by gravity, it is then easy to see how black holes are black. Once you can understand that light, although massless, is affected by gravity, the rest of your question falls into place.

 

[tiny-tim]

Welcome to PF!

Hi Mabcs! Welcome to PF!

Why are black holes black even though light(photons) has no mass? Gravity shouldn't affect it.

energy is mass, mass is energy

light has energy, so light has mass

(it doesn't have rest-mass )

 

[pmacias]

Black holes are black because they have such strong gravitational pull that nothing, including light, can escape from them. This is due to the immense amount of mass concentrated in a small area, creating a gravitational force that is strong enough to trap even the fastest-moving particles, such as photons. The concept of gravity affecting light may seem counterintuitive, but in the theory of general relativity, gravity is seen as the curvature of space-time caused by massive objects. This means that even massless particles like photons can still be affected by gravity. Additionally, as an object gets closer to the event horizon of a black hole, the gravitational pull becomes stronger and time slows down, making it appear as though the object is frozen in place. This is known as gravitational time dilation and further contributes to the black hole's ability to trap light. In summary, black holes are black because their immense gravitational pull traps all forms of matter and energy, including light.