• Question: Is it possible to bend space by going through black holes, why do you think this?

    Asked by to Clare, Divya, Ian, Jess, Lewis on 17 Mar 2014. This question was also asked by .
    • Photo: Lewis Dean

      Lewis Dean answered on 17 Mar 2014:

      I really don’t know much about black holes – that physics stuff is complicated!

      Black holes have gravity that is so strong they suck everything in. Therefore, they do bend space-time (space to you and me!). It is thought that there are black holes at the centre of each galaxy, gradually sucking in the stuff around it (don’t worry, we are right on the edge of our galaxy, it will be billions of years before we might get engulfed).

    • Photo: Ian Hands-Portman

      Ian Hands-Portman answered on 17 Mar 2014:

      We won’t necessarily be sucked in by the one in the centre of the galaxy – if our sun suddenly turned into a black hole of the same size we wouldn’t get sucked in as we’re orbiting it and an orbit just depends on the size of the two objects and the speed they’re going at ( I play a lot of KSP ).

    • Photo: Clare Nevin

      Clare Nevin answered on 18 Mar 2014:

      Black holes bend space and time but depends on where the observer is. To a viewer on earth, a clock travelling towards the event horizon of a black hole (the point of no return) would be at a much slower rate than a clock on earth, however if the viewer was in the same position as the clock then time would be at the normal rate.

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