• Question: what would happen if a blackhole came close to earth

    Asked by tmcdonnell to Stephen, Lauren, Joseph, Eoin, Colm on 12 Nov 2013.
    • Photo: Joseph Roche

      Joseph Roche answered on 12 Nov 2013:

      Game over. The Earth would be sucked inside and it would more than likely be destroyed. We cannot be certain exactly what happens inside a black hole. It would probably not be pleasant.

    • Photo: Eoin O Colgain

      Eoin O Colgain answered on 12 Nov 2013:

      Interestingly, one may not even notice us crossing the event horizon.

      Inside the black hole, time and space directions switch over. No matter what you try to do one cannot avoid the curvature singularity as it is no longer a point in space, but a point in time. It is inevitable.

      The Earth would be ripped apart before we got close to the singularity.

    • Photo: colm bracken

      colm bracken answered on 14 Nov 2013:

      Space is mostly empty space so even if a black hole was heading in our general direction there is almost no chance that it would hit us. It would probably pass harmlessly by. If it came very close it might perturb/wobble our orbit, but it wouldn’t suck us in. If somehow it came to a stop beside us then we would get sucked in but it would not be able to suddenly stop like this.

    • Photo: Stephen Scully

      Stephen Scully answered on 14 Nov 2013:

      Most likely nothing, we would slip by one another without noticing. Space is nearly all empty. Chances are it would not hit us.

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