Name: James L VanWinkle and Tony J Mikes
Status: Other
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Question:
If two super massive black holes reach a point of mutual attraction, will
the objects at the heart of each black hole not accelerate to the speed of
light? What would be the result of the impact of the two objects? Could
the objects obtain an impact speed in excess of the speed of light? Could
you not have a regional "big bang"?
Any good articles on the object of colliding black holes?
Replies:
There have been a number of good articles on black holes. I remember at
least one that dealt with collisions, but I do not remember where it is to
be found. Go look up some articles: either Scientific American, Science,
etc. Until the two black holes get really close (so their event horizons
overlap), there will not be much that is different from two masses moving
under attractive forces. The speeds of things will not be strange. When
they start to "touch" There should be lots of mass transfer and radiation.
I do not know any of the details. It should be an interesting study.
Samuel P Bowen
If two black holes collide, they will merge to form a bigger black hole.
Two black holes may exist within each other's gravitational field without
anything special happening. They have to come very close to each other for
the black hole effects to become apparent, and then they will merge!
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