Can black holes “eat” matter indefinitely or is there a limit? Do they ever have trouble absorbing large masses or is it always the same?

Question

Can black holes “eat” matter indefinitely or is there a limit? Do they ever have trouble absorbing large masses or is it always the same?

In: 11

Answer 1

Think of a black hole like a drain in your bathtub. When you pull the plug the water starts to drain, but not all of it goes down instantaneously. That whirlpool is called an Accretion Disk. The bigger the black hole (drain), the bigger the accretion disk (whirlpool). It doesn’t matter how large the tub is though. All the mass (water) will be drained eventually. The Black hole’s size just affects how fast it can eat, not how much in total as all eating does is make the hole larger.