I don't think the string would come back.

Post #294,402

10/7/07 10:53:58 PM

What if you tied a string to something and tossed it into the Event Horizon -

Would the string come back frayed.. or cleanly cut?

You're assuming the string would be somehow severed by the event horizon. Everything I've read about - admittedly, popular descriptions, such as from Steven Cohen and Jack Stewart - says that is nothing like what happens. You get an extreme time-dilation effect which suggests that nothing which falls into a singularity is 'gone', just irretrievable.

Of course, that means if you pull the piece of string, it will break. :-)

Wade.

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And leave me here to bleed

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Somebody save my life
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Post #294,421

by JayMehaffey

10/8/07 11:17:48 AM

Any normal matter would break near a black hole

The gravity near the black hole and event horizon would break any string. Even without any mass at the end, the string would tear itself apart at some point.

The mass of the string itself would cause it to accelerate towards the hole. And as you get close the acceleration would approach infinite and the speed of the end of the string would approach the speed of light. And there is no string that could possibly take that kind of strain. In fact, as you get really close the gravitational force will overpower the strong force and the individual atoms will come apart.

If you did manage to get an event horizon separated from a black hole it still wouldn't work. Anything moving towards the event horizon still requires an infinite time to cross it. The event horizon is a two way barrier, nothing on the inside can effect us and nothing on the outside can effect the inside. Thus the string question is meaningless.

Jay

Post #294,422

by Another Scott

10/8/07 11:46:12 AM

It's a thought experiment at present.

[link|http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Event_horizon|Event Horizon] at Wikipedia gives a similar account to you.

Jay writes:

The event horizon is a two way barrier, nothing on the inside can effect us and nothing on the outside can effect the inside.

I don't think this is quite right, as black holes can [link|http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_hole#Evaporation|evaporate] via [link|http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawking_radiation|Hawking radiation]. At least if you are convinced by the theories.

Cheers,
Scott.

Post #294,446

by imric

10/9/07 7:04:42 AM

Depends on the size of the black hole

The bigger it is, the less severe the tidal effects...

Imric's Tips for Living

Paranoia Is a Survival Trait
Pessimists are never disappointed - but sometimes, if they are very lucky, they can be pleasantly surprised...
Even though everyone is out to get you, it doesn't matter unless you let them win.

Nothing is as simple as it seems in the beginning,
As hopeless as it seems in the middle,
Or as finished as it seems in the end.

Post #294,428

by boxley

10/8/07 12:56:57 PM

it would come back as someone elses string

Quantum materiae materietur marmota monax si marmota monax materiam possit materiari?
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Post #294,592

by ubernostrum

10/15/07 8:32:39 PM

Well.

In terms of "what would actually happen?" I'd vote for either the string breaking if you're sufficiently anchored to avoid being pulled along with it (since eventually the strain placed on it would exceed its tensile strength), or you getting sucked in along with it if you're not sufficiently anchored.

\r\n\r\n

However, what little I know of the physics involved indicates that, from the perspective of someone outside the event horizon, the bit going into the singularity would never visibly complete the journey across the event horizon due to the extreme time-dilation effects of the singularity's gravity; it would simply go into an eternally-darkening red shift, growing fainter and fainter though always (perhaps infinitesimally) visible.

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