How do black holes “consume” light?

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How do black holes “consume” light?

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Anonymous 0 Comments

So light always follows a straight line through space. Black holes however bend space to such a degree that “straight” means towards the black hole.

If it helps you can visualize space as a grid, and a black hole being a spot where the lines all curve into a single point. Light just “follows the lines” as it were, and end up inside the black hole.

This is also why things can’t get out of a black hole once they pass a certain threshold(called the event horizon), the space past that point is so twisted and curved in on itself that every direction you go brings you closer to the center.

So as to where the light goes once it passes the event horizon, it basically just spirals around the mass at the center until it eventually hits it. If you were to pass through the event horizon of a black hole, you’d probably get incinerated by the intense light that’s going around in circles slowly spiraling into the center.

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