<p><BR/>Replying to:<BR/><DIV CLASS='Discussion_PostQuote'>Black holes are an extreme curvature in spacetime, at least outside the horizon. Does that satisfy your term of "eat"? <br />Posted by SHU</DIV><br /><br />It's not so much that black holes eat light, but rather once a photon crosses the event horizon it can't escape, because the black hole's escape velocity is equal to the speed of light. Based on Einstein's theory of time dilation, strong gravitational fields slow down time, from an outsider's point of view. This phenomenon becomes apparent when you understand frame of reference. </p><p>For example, if we could hypothetically see someone fall into the event horizon, we would see time stop for them, so it may appear that the black hole is eating time altogether. However, we can't actually see to the event horizon of a black hole, not yet anyways. Actually seeing objects and light cross into the event horizon is the eventual jackpot for all astronomers and cosmologists! </p><p>The key idea to keep in mind is that once inside the event horizon, the roles of space and time are switched. I'll explain this: In normal 4D space (like we live in here on Earth), time is constantly moving forward, we have no way of stopping it from happening. Additionally, space is not dictated by any one motion, we can move freely through 3 dimensions without being dictated by any one direction, unlike time. However, once you cross beyond the event horizon of a black hole, your direction through time ceases, yet your direction through space is inevitable, you can in no way stop yourself from being pulled to the gravitational singularity. </p> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p> </p><p><strong><font color="#ff0000">Techies: We do it in the dark. </font></strong></p><p><font color="#0000ff"><strong>"Put your hand on a stove for a minute and it seems like an hour. Sit with that special girl for an hour and it seems like a minute. That's relativity.</strong><strong>" -Albert Einstein </strong></font></p> </div>