: : :Suppose I choose a large black hole. One large enough so that my space ship won't be torn apart by the gravitational gradient. : : :Suppose my spaceship has an engine powerfull enough to provide some velocity away from the object in the centre of the black hole. Not very difficult, as long as the black hole is a big one. : : :Then as long as my engine is stocked with fuel, I can escape the black hole. Can't I. : : :My question is, using a fusion engine, whats the smallest black hole I could cross the event horizon and survive to tell the tale??

: : It depends. The engine would have to be able to thrust you faster than light in order to escape the sigularity.

Infact the event horison is simply the point above the singularity where the escape velocity is equal to the speed of light. if you could travel faster than the speed of light then "your" event horison would be the point above the singularity where the escape velocity would be equal to that of your ship.

Also I dont see how the size of the black hole makes it easy to move away from the center?

• Re: black holes and spaceships - fred - January 28, 1998 - 22:17 UTC