Do black holes slow down time?

Answer 1

No. The link between time and black holes is only theoretical (of course a clock stops ticking when thrown into a black hole...it also stops existing). And a clock not ticking doesn't equal the stoppage of time (you can stop a clock from ticking). Time is not a physical force, and it cannot be stopped. Time is merely our own measurement of change. We say that a rotation of the Earth is a day, because that is what we experience.

The passage of time for an object thrown into a black hole depends on its acceleration, time dilation, and the observation point. An observer outside the hole would see an object accelerate into it, then slow at the event horizon, because the light coming from the object would seem to be slowed by the gravity of the black hole (actually the spacetime it travels through is stretched).

The object would accelerate, slowing the passage of time in its reference frame, and would seem to take an extraordinary amount of time before it reached the event horizon, and eventually the singularity, where it would cease to exist.

Answer 2

Because the black whole is so very heavy.

Well, it really has to do with the difference in gravity between the observer and the person or object being observed. If you really want to read an get an in depth explanation, along with some other cool stuff look up Black Holes and Time Warps by Kip S. Thorne. He brings all this complicated stuff down to earth, but not in a patronizing way... It's a long book but definitely worth the read.

Answer 3

The effect of time dilation in a black hole is caused by the movement from a high gravitational potential to a lower one (basically, getting closer to a massive object). It is predicted by relativity, but impossible to prove empirically since we cannot go in and out of a black hole at will. It is only the observer within the hole for which time stops, though. Answer: Time is a relative issue. The rate at which time moves forward slows down when you're near a very heavy object compared to the rate at which time moves forward for someone who is not near that very heavy object.

If you would be inside a black hole, a day would still last a day for you. However the time outside that black hole would have passed at a much higher rate.

Would you be truly at the center of a black hole where gravity is infinite, then time would stop compared to the world outside the black hole. So in a fraction of a second inside the black hole, eternity has passed outside the black hole.

Answer 4

No. Black holes do not - and cannot - "suck in" time or anything else for that matter. However, due to their concentrated mass and gravitational force, they have a significant effect on space-time around them. Time, for example, stops at the event horizon of a black hole.

Answer 5

Time does not stop. It may be distorted based on your point of view.

From the point of view of an observer watching an object falling towards the black hole, as it approaches the event horizon such an object will move slower and slower - and never quite reach the event horizon. From the point of view of a hypothetical unfortunate astronaut who happens to fall into the black hole, he will fall faster and faster, until he reaches the singularity. Note that such an astronaut will be killed long before he actually reaches the singularity.

This has to do with the way the black hole's gravity distorts both time and space in its surroundings. The details - which are fairly complicated - have to do with the General Theory of Relativity.

Answer 6

Yes. All objects with mass affect time. The closer you are to an object's center of mass, the slower time goes. For most objects this effect is tiny; too small to be noticed or detected except with the most sensitive instruments. Black holes are the exception. So much mass is concentrated in such a small area that time and space are severely distorted. At the event horizon time, from the perspective of outside observers, stops.

Answer 7

because scientists found out with atomic clocks that time gets slower in higher gravity. black holes have a humongous amount of gravity, so time pretty much stops.

Answer 8

Well Albert Einstein said that time and space are the same thing so he just called it spacetime and black holes bend and warp space so time gets warped to.