Black holes..do they move?

[Coco]

My 8 year old asked me ' is a black hole flat or is it a ball shape? if its flat what would happen if you had a space ship capable of traveling around and came through via the other side... '

I said I didn't know but I'd ask Elvis.. he looked at me like I had two heads..

can anyone can answer this ?

Also sorry ' do they move'

[brantuk]

They're the most powerful things in the universe and as I understand it if a spaceship got anywhere near the event horizon it would get sucked in and ripped to shreds in an instant, right down to basic atoms. They spin I believe.

(but try not to scare him lol)

[Earl]

Im interested in this also, as I would love to see a 360 view of a black hole, as im not impressed by the usual flat accretion disk as it gives the impression a black hole is a 2 dimensional object. As im under the impression in reality it is a 4D object

[garethmob]

the "models" iv seen in college for some theorys are that its a 4d object similar like a whirlpool effect in the sink when you pull the plug out, the interesting thing is where does all of this "mass" that gets sucked in go, some go for time travel others go for bulking up the mass of a blackhole

for the theory of the travel around it (around its disk) you would require a "faster than light" travel which due to current physics is apparently unable to happen and because of its pull you could potentially travel in time.

[Capricorn]

Like most objects of some gravity I would expect it to be sphrical in nature.

It is "black" simply because no light escapes, we define "black" as something which reflects no lights. So it's black.

A little on the dense side as far a matter goes however when you think about it they seem to simply fit in with most of the laws of physics we have. Even the formation of them is pretty straight forward.

[ScubaMike]

A black hole is a singularity which has no shape. It is zero length in all directions.

What most people think of when asked "what shape is a black hole" is "what shape is the event horizon".

The event horizon (to all extents & purposes), is spherical (ignoring the effect of angular momentum).

The event horizon is that point away from the singularity where the surface escape velocity equals the speed of light (aka Schwartzchild radius).

Beyond the event horizon, normal laws of physics break down and require someone of the calibre of Hawkins to begin to express it (even mathmatically).

To an external viewer, someone moving towards a black hole would just fall through the event horizon, but to the person falling they would get closer & closer without ever actually reaching it. This is the basis of theories surrounding the use of black holes for time travel.

Weird stuff.