OK lets not argue about the technicalities of GETTING there....keep that in mind.

It's 2075, we have immense technology. In essence, we've got tech AS IF it were, say, 3075. By now we've crafted ships that easily go from planet, to planet, safely.
We've built stuff that can even travel out of our own solar system. We've built ships that are able to traverse at light speed. Warp even? So, here's the question.

If we happened to encounter a Black Hole, what would happen?

What would happen if we entered the Black Hole?

Could we get 'close' to it? How 'close' COULD we get to it? What effects would we feel?

Just a question to pique interests, and thoughts. A small departure from computers into - well - the unknown.

My guess is that first we'd start throwing all sorts of crap into it, starting with various data recording equipment. Ever read Ender's Game? If we had some Ansible-type transmitter, we could determine if the equipment survives or not. Most likely there will be one or two volunteers who will willingly enter it. This is all assuming that entrence is possible, which based on the theory of an 'Event Horizon,' everything is accelerated and compressed so much before entry that it actually stops before it enters. If we did indeed have warp technology, we would most likely already understand how a black hole functions.

Edit: I hope we get to mess around with black holes before the year 2075...I dont want to be an old man when it happens.

Well if we went to a blackhole what woudl happen is what we already know what happens. You get sucked into the hole one atom at a time. Ive seen pictures from NASA were they have images from a planet gettng sucked into a blackhole and the planet was being sucked in, in sort of a sprial effect. It was really cool if i find the picture again again ill post it.

Time would slow down as you apporached a black hole, as for the effects - depending on the size, you could feel the effects of the black hole from miles away.

Also, for a black hole to exist, there must be a phyiscal elements that does the exact opposite, ie a 'white' hole, in turn that would spit out time/stuff, as apposed to black hole which sucks up everything.

Personally I think black holes are rips in time. I mean...not that they ARE, but that when they occur, they create rips in time. The closer you get the more intangible 'time' itself becomes. To actually ENTER one, would be to 'swim' through time itself. There's no starting point, or ending point - no relation to time whatsoever.
If a machine was built that was, invulnerable (which is impossible), by invulnerable I mean the materials can age but never get old, the electronics will never deteriorate and the energy source can never be used up/extinguished and that the machine was somehow unaffected by time (also impossible) - that the machine would be able to traverse the hole. Not that we'd ever see or hear from it again (so what's the point?).
Basically, my theory is that time around it is solid (ie: the time we exist in), time inside it is 'fluid' meaning there really is no essence of time, therefore objects that time affects cannot survive actual entry.

I fear the black hole. I think messing with one will and can only cause certain trouble.

I think that no matter how much tech we have, we'll never essentially be able to get questions answered about it. Maybe we will about some distance around it, or close to it....But not objects that try to enter.
Whatever enters, will never ever be heard from again. I mean, it will either get close and freeze in time (out of our reach) or enter and 'wink' (out of our time). Either way we lose.

Unless with some kind of miraculous, extraordinary luck, I'm talking 1 to infinity, that what we send actually enters, for one, and then exits in our own time and traversable space. THEN we'd have ... boy ... some knowledge.

Since our own knowledge of time is limited, I'm not sure what kind of info. we'd get. I think...just maybe that if we were open minded enough to allow readings of how fast the machine flew, or what 'time' it was in (through minutes, hours, years, etc.). Say we programmed it to take 1 trillion (or more) 'snapshot' counts of time - that the counts would go into the negatives and into the positives as well. Something like that!

We really don't 'know' anything. Believe me.

Check this out:
http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2005/sep/H...blue_stars.html

You'll see what I mean. That's why it's kind of fun to throw around theories. Scientists tell us something, they're sure of it, there are even images to prove it - but then something inexplicable occurs and they become baffled again.

That's not true, time slows according to how close you are to the speed of light. since a blackhole sucks up light, and even slows it down by the sucking up, theoretically, nothing can enter a black hole.
Practically, because of the slowing, the spiral effect starts to come in, that spiral effect is only 1 atom, that's everywhere, because it's travelling faster than the speed of light at that point.
Eventually, it's unpredictable what a black hole would do, because of Einsteins theory, making it impossible to put a data recording device in it, because the data recording device exists out of time at the moment of getting sucked in, which means, no data is recorded.

I can make it even easier to explain, since I study Technical Physics... I'm supposed to know all this.
Short and simple:
Because of Einstein, we can't do anything with black holes but looking at them.

True then again no matter how many theories or back up information you have or understand, it's all theory because maybe the simply explanable would happen entering a blackhole. I mean I've read tons of theories on how time works, space, blackholes, the whole lot really. I really just keep an open mind and wait for somebody to prove it. Maybe if a God exist perhaps the goal is to be able to take the leap of faith (knowing you'd die entering the hole) and you win.

Personaly I'm not religious and I'm not going to turn this into a bible thumping contest but what I'm saying is, have any of you ever been near or entered a hole? Probably not so it's best to simply state your opinions as opinions and not facts becaus ein reality we don't really know, and at least this way we would be sticking to keeping an open mind, and not a debate

I still reckon when you approach a black hole, time will slow down, and it'll slow down so much, that you'll never ever actually enter the black hole.

i still think things can go through black holes. Small stars, planets, moons, things that are 'timeless' you could say - or could survive aging millions or billions of years 'backward and forward' through time. I think they go through and pop out through another black hole or err, white hole? as someone mentioned. Again, all theoretical - but I don't agree that things can't enter black holes or rather, that a black hole can't envelope something, essentiall 'eating' or sucking it up.

As soon as you entered the event horizon, you would be sucked in, if you will. the event horizon is basically the extent of the black hole's distortion on the fabric of time/space. Think of like a grid with a cicular dip in it. As soon as you crossed the edge(the event horizon), there is no way to escape. If it was a wormhole, think of a folded grid with a tunnel linking the two sides. The wormhole would allow the entrant to emerge basically anywere in time and space.

A black hole can actually be easily summed up in mathematical terms. Think of it as the function y=1/(x^2). For that graph, a black hole would essentially be the point where x=0. It is indifferentiable, and no limit exists. The point at which x=0 is infinitely approachable, but can never actually be reached.

On a 3-dimensional, think of the equation z=-1/(x^2+y^2). The point where x and y are 0 would be the black hole, and with this approach, you can visuallize something like a ball falling into it. 3D graphing is a very good method for describing gravity, the larger the trough, the stronger the gravitational field. In the case of a black hole, that trough continues downword toward infinity.

Basically, both mathematical theories of black holes state that it is impossible to enter it, or reach the actual point of 'Singularity' (thats where the idea of an Event Horizon came from).

But with that equation that would mean nothing could enter the black hole - or emerge from it, and nasa has images of planets/objects in space being devoured by black holes. So....wouldn't that theory then become invalid? If it's mathematically impossible, then how is it being done?

We would chock it with empty beer cans

Nasa's images show only what light can depict to us. The thing is that it may appear to have been devoured by the black hole, but the case is that everything is still there (the mass increases as proof of this), but the light no longer can escape the gravitational pull which gives the illusion that the materials are gone.

Edit: The mathematical model still leaves no explaination as to how an opbject can continue to accelerate toward a single point without ever reaching it.

So in essence you're saying that the black hole engulfs the objects, but they're really STILL there....

That's an entire new thoeory to me.

OK so...in your theory then - IF black holes, 'come and go', meaning say it exists for 1 million years....if it completely disappeared one day, all the objects that it 'seemed' to suck up - are still there? Is that what you're saying?

arent black holes just collapsed stars? so that means they're not even holes, just a giant round ball of matter with extreme mass giving it the extreme gravity. So that means whatever gets pulled into a blackhole just gets crushed to matter that is much smaller andsuper dense than it was before, adding on to the blackhole's mass.

That is essentially the current theory (collapsed supernovas i think, though), but the thing is that the magnitude of the gravitational forces is so intense, that some physicists believe that more than just space and matter is altered. For instance, time may be affected, which is greatly supported by Einstein's Theory of Relativity. This is where all of the idea's of infinite accelerations and event horizons come into play.

In any case, black holes have been observed to expand and also gain mass as they engulf whatever matter may be in their reach. One great question is based on the fate of light when it is pulled into a black hole. If the speed of light is indeed constant, either time or length must change to compensate, and because black holes seem to grow as they accumulate mass, many physicists believe black holes may indeed be some sort of time rift. I personally believe that as you move closer to the event horizon, time slows down (for example, you get close to a black hole for 10 minutes and when you come out its been 10 years).

And NeoPrimal, as far as I've heard, black holes dont disappear from existance. Once a black hole is formed, it pretty much pulls all surrounding matter into it. Once all of the matter has been 'consumed' (for lack of a better word), there will be no more evidence that the black hole is indeed there, but it is considered safe to assume that it is still present. In other words, a black hole is identified because of its effect on surrounding matter.

Edit: I think my brain overheated a little from making sure I had that time distotion thing right...do they make cooling systems for that?

You're making a little mistake, black holes can die. they die when they suck up their own edges (which will happen when they reach a certain size, depending on their power). Once this is started, the black hole collapses, and turns into a wormhole, which basically is a portal through space, like thought of a black hole, but without the ngeative effects of a black hole.

This btw. is an unconfirmed theory.

(Yeah, I study this s*** to make a living out of it eventually)

Ok lets go back to the beginning, maybe this will help us. How are black holes created?

I think a black hole is created when a star collapses.

Mmmm...this is getting tasty. Well Sphere enlightened me on the blackhole evolving into a wormhole by sucking itself up - I didn't know that was possible. Since I don't study this stuff and have no professors to ask, I read alot of stuff on Nasa and then make my own theories, which isn't exactly something educational, but it works! LOL. OK, my theory on a blackhole's death - I didn't KNOW for a fact that they could die or evolve/change, but I've assumed that if it were possible it would occur when it was quantum physically possible ie: when the time was right.
Or to better explain myself I'll give some reasons thy I think so: a supernova occurs why? Usually when the star has expired right? By expire I mean it's run out of gas/energy to support it's nuclear activity or, light, whatever had it 'lit' or 'burning' (forgive the simplicity, I'm trying not to be overly technical). OK, so for every equal there's an opposite...therefore I found it interesting to hypothesize that an anti-nova® (MY word for a black hole, hehehe) will also come to an end when it's unable to amass anti-energy (anti-energy being anything close which contains/gives off energy). So, for instance, our star - the sun, GIVES energy. An anti-star (black hole), TAKES it.
When there's nothing left to take, poof*. Just like a star. When there's nothing left to give, poof*. But this new stuff on worm holes is interesting. If you go way back to my theory on what would happen IF something were able to enter a black hole, you'll see some references to worm hole theory there also. Except that worm holes are traversable.
Maybe a black hole is actually a 'gateway' to a worm hole - once we have the tech to enter them, we're on our way to ultimate knowledge. Or, maybe we'll just die. Who knows.

Edit: I just found this: http://imagine.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/features/news/news.html

Basically, yes, that's it, but a black hole is a tiny bit more...

A black hole is created by a star imploding. Try to visualize it as a balloon full of water. the ballon stays the same shape, while water leaks out of it (the balloon doesn't grow smaller). This means, there has to be a vacuum inside the balloon. after a while of leaking water, the balloon implodes, it can't resist the sucking power of "nothing" anymore.
After the implosion, all the water that's left inside the balloon is ejected away, and, at the same time, sucked back. This sucking back occurs because of the vacuum inside that balloon, now being outside it, and sucking the water back. The balloon itself imploded with a big force and became one very compact ball with a really high density, and because of that, a real high gravity strengt.

Now replace the balloon with a star.
A star isn't just a ball of hot gasses, but a bal, filled with hot gasses. the bal itself can handle a specific amount of inside underpressure, and when that point it reached, the same will happen as I described happening to the balloon

That, basically, is how a black hole emerges from a star.

Now the black hole is there, it sucks up everything around itself. With this sucking, it gains mass. After a while, the core begins to suck it's own edge in, because of it's size, and the density getting lower, the further away you are from the core.
Eventually, this will lead into another implosion, leaving nothing but a lot of heat, which is the burned left over mass, and a very small core, not big enough to have destructive gravity force, but big enough to be a so called wormhole.

A wormhole isn't really a portal, going into a wormhole means you'll be accelerated at the speed of light, until you bump into another wormhole, where, because of Newtons "action = minus reaction" you'll be slowed down to your original speed.

Because you travel at the speed of light, you are everywhere, and exist without time, and therefore, don't notice the distance you travel.

I tried to keep it as simple as possible, I hope I'm understandable for the "noobs on physics" (gotta give them some name, right? )

it would help if we could have a graphical representation of the black hole. I would imagine it looks like rounded and strected cone.

This is the best image existing of a black hole. All the light is still visible (because light exists without time) and you can kinda see it being sucked into the black hole. A better image doesn't exist I think, because the rest of a black hole is well.... black, like it's background

One could be pretty close to earth or better yet in our solar system and we wouldn't be able to tell until it got the energy required to grow. I sort of think of them as universal hurricanes now. Imagine a huge comet someplace out in our solar system that scientists expected to pass by pluto or xena and then it was suddenly gone or 'sucked in' so that the light from it could be barely seen disappearing. What do you think our (earth) reaction would be? I mean - we know quite a few things already. We know that it swallows planets, stars, moons and basically any energy that gets close enough. We also know that it 'grows' the more it 'eats'. Knowing all this isn't it just a little more incredible that we have our sun, we've been safe for at least hundreds of thousands of years, that our planet is the only one in our solar system which supports life and that most of the other galaxies we can kind of look into have black holes all over them? Makes you feel lucky to be alive..LOL. Or at least me...

I'd say... We're screwed :S

Some scientists say that someday when we have more advanced technology, we could harness the power of the black hole. To do this they suggest building a sphere around the hole and using the gravitaional enery to run turbines for electricity. You would need one massive sphere!

Believe that would be possible, however you would need a material strong enough material to contain the many forces of a black hole, and heaven forbid should it collapse!

@Neoprimal, Simple, seeing as Earth is a planet, and you've already said many planets get sucked into Black Hole. We would die. Or we would be trapped in the pull of the black hole, not dying but we're so close to it, that time would slow down.

I am not available for tests

I saw a T.V programme on what would would happen if Eath became too near a black hole. Earth would become molten long before the planet was finally sucked in. So we would die of over heating, Oceans evapourating etc.

I almost forgot...my avatar is a black hole!

your avatar is an interpretation of a black hole, because that white line, which is the accelerated mass, is usually not that visible

It is related to black hole, but I found back a small program which allow to see Galaxy Collision with user defined parameters. If you change some, you can get pretty neat changes

Galaxy3D