This is something I've often wondered about. As gravity increases time slows. It's said that if you watched a spaceship approaching the event horizon of a black hole it would eventually look like it stopped from your viewpoint. To the people inside the ship it would look like life was going on at its normal rate of speed. I've never read anywhere what the universe would look like to the people inside the ship if they looked out the window though. In other words, how fast is time passing for the universe in relation to a stopped observer? Would there just be streaks of light everywhere?
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Google: "black hole" cosmology
Start with Black Holes by Ted Bunn.
Your idea is...?
kevin - This was added in the 'Questions' section, so it's a question, not an idea. I might have missed the purpose of that section though so correct me if I'm wrong.
Thanks sevans. Both links answered my questions.
sevans, One followup question if I may. The information provided by Ted Bunn mentions two explanations for what we'd see at the event horizon - one based on an optical illusion and another based on time-slowing-down. If the optical illusion explanation is right then the person on the ship looking out from the event horizon would see a normal universe. He really doesn't say what the person would see if the time-slowing-down explanation proved true. Is there another link that speculates what they'd see in that case?
I don't think this issue is well settled. I don't know of a link to an answer. I prefer the (semi-fictional) answer): You would look back and see the future of the universe in fast-forward. That is reasonable if time-slowing is the only thing you consider. But there are other factors.
Look in the recent issue of Science News (Sept. 25, 2004, Pages 202-204). It won't answer your question, but will probably explain why you are having trouble finding the answer. Hawking may have found the answer, but he hasn't published yet.
Here's something to think about: A black hole is a black hole because it was created from matter that has collapsed to a point. Black holes also suck in matter through gravitational forces and this matter disappears into the hole, never to be seen again. But you can't have it both ways. You can't hang around at the horizon for ever waiting to go in, otherwise black holes wouldn't exist, would they? Leaving aside the mathematics -- which is a theory after all -- I think what would happen is that you would approach the hole and then, out of curiosity say, you might just stick a fingertip into the event horizon and schloop! You would be sucked in and disappear to become a part of the black hole. People watching would see a burst of radiation (foreverafter called "unlucky sevans") just as we see today when the things we think are black holes suck in matter.
I've always thought that the very concept of a "black hole" is fundementally wrong. It's not a hole. It's an ex star with gravity so massive light cannot escape. I think that there is no hole. If you could visit a black hole and withstand the massive gravity it would just be a very dark and hard sphere. No hole. No gateway to anywhere.
Referring to the original question: "how fast is time passing for the universe in relation to a stopped observer? Would there just be streaks of light everywhere?"
Well, if light reaching the observer's eyeballs is also affected by the same gravity-time phenomenon, then the light is traveling very slowly compared to the rest of the universe, which means that the light from the fast activity of the universe won't catch up with the inside ship crew members in time for them to see anything except the normal speed that they are experiencing themselves. So time is going by fast on the outside, but they won't see it because the light reaching them from those events is just as slow as they are (relatively speaking).
My big question would be: "As light approaches from the outside and slows down, wouldn't the light particles from the outside build up over thousands of years and produce an ever increasing compact layer of light particles? How does such a dense layer of light particles behave? Could such a wall of light become even more dense than a solid block of uranium?"
I don't think physics has an explanation of what happens to matter as it crosses the event horizon, doesn't even have a reasonable idea of what happens as the event horizon is approached.
Clearly, as matter is sucked in it is compressed unimaginably, heated to unconceivable levels, torn apart by tidal forces, and reduced to component sub-nuclear particles.
That's the fun part.
Once again Beaugrand is correct. but didn`t go on far enough with an explanation. A black hole is like the end of a vaccum cleaners hose in space (there are a mega amount of these floating? around in space and it`s the Suction ends of these that we term Black holes.Matter is drawn in and compressed to "Absolute" limits.This produces "Absolute" heat which creates one hell of an explosion and a "Star" is born from the outlet hole of the Black hole,which strangely enough should be called the "White" hole end of the Black hole!, and anything but "Nothing" that is drawn into a black hole will not survive the journey through this space time tunnel.I.e. your "History".
So in this respect science is correct in saying that time gets shorter,because it certainly does for anybody or anything that enters a black hole,as their time definitly runs out!
If you think about this seriously enough, you will come to the conclusion that it was this effect that created the "BIG BANG" in the first place.
yes