At 04:55 PM 8/20/2012, [email protected] wrote:
In reply to David Roberson's message of Sun, 19 Aug 2012 18:27:41
-0400 (EDT):
Hi,
That would be consistent with my suggestion below.
>
>I have always wondered exactly what happens to matter that is
heading directly toward the singularity. Doesn't time for the
matter slow down due to the intense gravity to such a degree that
it appears to stop in mid path at the horizon from our observation perspective?
Well, I suppose it's too much to expect for the average Vortician to
understand relativity.
Time does not slow down in any inertial reference frame. Like ours.
If matter is attracted by gravity, it accelerates according to the
gravitational field. It will not appear to stop as it approaches any
point. However, its velocity is limited by the speed of light. As I
understand this, it will be sweallowed by the black hole. It will not
stop at the event horizon. Its momentum will become part of the
momentum of the black hole. (Momentum is conserved, and so is energy.)
Time dilation means something else. If the matter falling in is
radioactive, for example, with a certain half-life, as the matter is
gravitationally accelerated, the decay rate, to us, would appear to
slow down. As the matter approaches the speed of light, the decays we
could see would slow toward a rate of zero.
I don't want to make up more than that at the moment. Putting
together the relativistic effects of gravity with those purely
resulting from relative velocity hurts my head.
(Time dilation is actually easy to understand, if one accepts that
the speed of light in a vacuum is constant in all frames of
reference, no matter what their relative velocity. It falls out
easily from that.)
