Could you harness the power of a black hole?

Question

think "Event Horizon"

Answer 1

Only if you were from a 'Type III' civilization:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kardashev_s...

Answer 2

nope. the black hole's power is indestrutable

Answer 3

From a Star Trek magazine, the Romulan warp power generator uses an artificial quantum singularity, a black hole.

With a black hole, when matter reaches it, it builds up on the black hole and then is belched out.  And the Romulans uses the expelled material to power their warp drive.

Answer 4

i heard a theory once that when all the stars burn out that society (if around) will actually colonize the area around the blackholes and get energy from hawking radiation. no matter though because all the atoms that make us ill eventually decay, bummer isnt it... i hate entropy!

Answer 5

You can achieve near-total conversion of matter into energy using a black hole, so it's a way of producing energy that is far more efficient than nuclear power.  Also, much more dangerous.  Considerable advances in technology would be needed.

Answer 6

Black holes are very efficient at turning infalling matter into energy.  Much of this energy is emitted along jets going North and South along the axis of rotation.  This emitted radation and relativistic particles certainly could be harnessed.  So the next requirement is, what do you want to use the energy for?  Because the next step is to design a means of getting this energy to where you want it.

If your energy comes from a nuclear power plant, and you want a bicycle headlight to light, you use the plant power to charge a battery, which you put into the bicycle.  But if you want to harness the rider's pedal power, then a local generator can power the light directly.

There aren't any really near by black holes.

Answer 7

If a black hole could exist,it would emit nothing that you could harness,like sunlight etc.