Black hole and 2012???

Question

If a black hole swallows the earth, would we still be pulled by earth's gravity or would we be pulled by the black hole's gravity? Like, if the black hole swallowed the earth, would we be on the ceiling or on the floor? Would Earth lose it gravitational pull, or would the Earth be just moving? An what is your opinion on 2012 Mayan Doomsday?

Answer 1

Wow...you seem to be rather mixed up. Let's see if I can straighten your thoughts out for you.

>If a black hole swallows the earth, would we still be pulled by earth's gravity or would we be pulled by the black hole's gravity?

Both. All objects with mass are constantly being pulled by the gravity of all other objects with mass. We are being pulled by the Earth, the Earth is being pulled by us, we and the Earth are both being pulled by the Sun, and so on. As the Earth fell into the black hole, we would at first stick to the surface of the Earth normally. However, after a certain point, the tidal effects would start becoming noticeably large. The Earth itself would stretch out, and the people on the side furthest towards the center of the black hole would be the first to be crushed into degenerate matter by the immense gravity. The rest of us, assuming we were not simply vaporized by the energy released by matter falling into the black hole, would follow suit. We would still appear to stick to the surface of the Earth until very shortly before the end, although for the last few seconds of that time, part of the Earth would already be squeezed into degenerate matter inside the black hole.

To understand this a bit better, consider the Sun. The Earth is in free fall around the Sun, just as satellites are in free fall around the Earth. We humans are not in free fall around the Earth, which is why we feel the Earth's gravity. We are being affected by the Sun's gravity, but we don't feel it because the Earth is being accelerated along with us, and so all we feel is the ground underneath us staying in the same place relative to us (even though we are falling around the Sun). It's the same with the black hole: Just because we and the Earth are both being pulled in by the black hole doesn't mean that we would suddenly no longer feel the Earth's gravity. Both us and the Earth would be in free fall towards the black hole, and so we wouldn't sense the black hole's gravity any more than we sense the Sun's gravity right now.

>Like, if the black hole swallowed the earth, would we be on the ceiling or on the floor?

On the floor. Until the point where we were crushed out of existence and turned into collapsed matter, that is.

>Would Earth lose it gravitational pull, or would the Earth be just moving?

The Earth would retain its mass and therefore its gravitational pull. We would be affected by the gravity of the Earth and the gravity of the black hole, but would only feel the gravity of the Earth affecting us because it is the object we are not in free fall towards. Theoretically, if you were to construct a solid pole such that it would sit 'on' the black hole without the black hole consuming it or passing into it, and put a platform on top, you could stand on the platform and feel the gravity of the black hole just as you can feel the gravity of the Earth right now. This would be because in that case you would not be in free fall towards the black hole.

>An what is your opinion on 2012 Mayan Doomsday?

It's a load of bullcrap. And that's not just my opinion, it's scientific and statistical fact. Don't believe me? Perhaps you aren't aware that the apocalypse has already been predicted for literally HUNDREDS of dates that have already passed, and that in modern times, hardly a week passes without the Earth's continued existence disproving yet another apocalyptic prediction. You can see a list of historical apocalyptic predictions here:

http://www.abhota.info/end1.htm

Given that the Earth has managed to survive thus far, you'll have to excuse me for thinking that one more apocalyptic prediction probably won't pose much of a threat to it. The Earth has become very good at surviving doomsday prophecies, through repeated practice if nothing else.

Answer 2

I guess we have to wait until 2012 to find out.

Answer 3

If a black hole were to come close enough to our solar system to begin devouring us, before Earth is consumed completely, gravity would start to get a little weird.  Eventually, as the hole approaches, its gravity will become more powerful on us, relative to the gravity of the Earth.

As the effects became noticeable, people on the same side of the Earth as the black hole would become lighter, while people on the opposite side would become heavier.  Eventually, tidal forces (forces that cause stretching, somewhat like the gravitational force of the Moon that causes tides) would stretch out our planet and its occupants.  We would be in sort of a free-fall, except that whatever is closest to the black hole would be pulled in harder, causing everything to be lighter and everything to be stretched out, pulled into a line funneling into the black hole.

My opinion on 2012 Mayan Doomsday is that it is one of almost innumerable doomsday predictions by ancient religions, none of which have any basis in currently generally accepted scientific principles, and, while interesting to some as an anthropological study, are no cause for concern.

Answer 4

The "Mayan Doomsday" is a bit of new age media hype pertaining to the Mayan Long-Count Calendar. The Mayans were extremely advanced astronomically and this calendar is proof of that. At a time when all people believed that the Earth was the universe, or that the solar system was the universe, the Mayans created a calendar that actually tracks the Sun's angle on the galactic (Milky Way) plane. On 12-21-12 at exactly 11:11 universal time (so says astronomy), the sun is supposed to align with the galactic plane for the first time in something like 26,000 years. It's interesting that the Mayans could figure this out, being that such an event never occurred during the time of their civilization and, in fact, they actually counted backwards (that's right, from 12-21-12, given their days and years were a bit different) until the sun reached zero degrees once again. They found this to very accurate based upon the observations they could make and so stuck with it. Now, the long-count calendar is actually a wheel, with no beginning or end, much like a traditional hand clock. The Mayans "12th hour" on this wheel merely represented what they considered the end and beginning of a new age. Fairly benign in reality.

As for the black hole bit: if a black hole swallowed earth, we, the planet, and everything else (including light) would be torn asunder at the atomic (and possibly sub-atomic) level after first being crushed into countless particles by the extremely violent gravity of a black hole. Everything would then be compressed into a space smaller than an atom. Not very fun, but take comfort in knowing that such a thing is extremely unlikely to occur to this solar system for a very long time to come (billions of years).

Answer 5

No one has ever seen a black hole, nor has one ever been proven to exist.

>>IF<< they exist, and IF we we're pulled into it, the gravitational forces would rip us apart, pulling us and everything around us into tiny tiny pieces.

All this wuld happen so fast you wouldn't even have the chance to say, "Ouch!"

The Mayan Doomsday concerns the Mayan calendar, and that it is supposed to "reset" every 5000 years, destroying everything and starting all over again.

If that were true, then it would have happened 5000 years ago, too.  If it did happen, how is it that we find caveman and dinosaur fossils that are hundreds of thousands of year old?  Wouldn't all of that been destroyed, too?

The 2012 Mayan Calendar Doomsday is just a story to scare little children and those that are to unintelligent to understand truth.

Is it working on you?

Answer 6

i think the black hole's since its stronger

Answer 7

Presumably a black hole would approach at usual galactic speeds of 70-100 miles per second. Probably before we could even see it, but without more than a couple day's warning at most, we would be noticing monster tides that kept getting higher and higher, accompanied by unbelievably violent earthquakes, volcanoes all over the world, and finally our atmosphere would be sucked away and the earth would break apart and the pieces disappear into it.

As to what will happen to us, the humans, we will be looong gone before the earth rips apart.The sky would get darker - the blueness of the sky is caused by the oxygen in the air. Anything that isn't nailed down will go next, not only drawn in by the gravity of the black hole but also sucked up by the wind.This is followed by the surface of the Earth itself. The Earth would get stretched into an oval shape.Let's assume that we would be durable and remain on the Earth while the Earth holds us by gravity and the Black Hole pulls us up by its gravity. This is gonna be the most incredible thing any human can go through..........the humans will be dismembered and rip apart between the Earth and the Black Hole. Imagine you closed a plastic bag and tied a knot on it so it is a whole bag (that's us) and when you can't open the bag, what do you do......you just take it from both sides and pull in different directions, as a result of which the bag explodes and rips apart. But you still have those two pieces of the bag in each of your hand at least.....but if we encounter the Black Hole even that will not remain........The Earth will explode and before it does it will change the course of everything in the Solar System..........So, before anything, the Earth will either boil or freeze as a result of initial encounter with a Black Hole near us...............

As to 2012, I don't really know what to say. It seems that if we were created we think that somehow we must also be destroyed. Nostradamus talked about the Apocalypse as well as many others, like Mayans. But none of them said we were gonna die, they said that some comet-planet will collide or pass by the Earth. May be it is the mysterious Planet X. Let's live and see.............

Answer 8

First, if a black hole swallowed the earth, the earth and all its inhabitants would become part of it.  It would not be a separate mass, it would all be squished down to no, or almost no volume at the center of the black hole.  (unless it were an extremely large/massive black hole, like the mass of the whole universe)

As far a Mayan doomsday, they were doomed a long time ago.  It is silly nonsense, don't worry.

Answer 9

if a black hole swallows the earth the earth wouldn't be there so it would be the black hole also we would be dead so it wouldn't matter

Answer 10

Earth's gravitational pull is generated partly by the iron core and the ever constant spinning of the mantle surrounding the core. It is unlikely even if pulled out of orbit, that our mantle would cease to spin, meaning gravity would continue to function fine. The thing that would go really quick (hours, days, maybe a week) would be the atmosphere. If the Earth were to be sucked into a black hole massive enough to fit it, I doubt that we would be able to feel it, its effects would be instantaneous.

Answer 11

good question i dont know but id like to lol

Answer 12

If a black hole were to swallow Earth there would be nothing left of Earth. The gravitational force of black holes is so intense that anything drawn into one is totally obliterated. Therefore Earth would have no mass and gravity because it simply would cease to exist.

Answer 13

2012..... nothing (Y2K).  lol, the thing that people are saying happens in 2012 already happened I'm pretty sure.  I could be wrong, but i think they calculated the galactic solstice to have already happened...Also I don't think the Mayans said it was the doomsday, they just didn't add further to the calander then that date.  Would you be concerned if an american calander company went out of business and didnt make anything further than December 2008?

With your blackhole thing...everything in the universe ALWAYS exhibits gravitational pull on EVERYTHING else in the universe.  As I sit here I am pulling you with my gravity (even though its so weak you cant feel it).  So to answer your question, both the black hole and earth are pulling you and will always continue to (although the earth would be torn appart and would cease to exist).