, stretched and suspended at four corners, represents space, and a bowling ball is placed in the center, the sheet will warp downward. If a golf ball is then set at the edge of the sheet and allowed to move freely it will be attracted toward the bowling ball, unless the golf ball is traveling at a speed great enough to not be effected by the curve. This critical speed is known as an escape velocity. This is the speed at which an object must travel to escape a bodys gravitational force (Chaisson, 77). If a body is compacted, such that its weight stays the same but its radius, or size, becomes smaller, its escape velocity increases in parallel (Chaisson, 196). The simple formula for this, in physics, states that a bodys escape velocity is equal to the square root of its mass, divided by its radius (Chaisson, 77). For example, if a bodys mass is two-hundred, and its size is twelve and one half, the escape velocity would be four. If the size of the same body is reduced to two, while its mass remained at two-hundred, the escape velocity increases to ten. Since a black holes size is always decreasing and its weight is always the same, the escape velocity is infinite (Chaisson, 195). This means that nothing can escape a black hole past the event horizon, not even light. Light is made up of waves and particles. It was discovered, in 1676, by Danish astronomer, Ole Christenson, that light travels at a very high, but finite speed (Hawking, 18). These properties of light govern that it must be subject to forces of nature, such as gravity. Light travels at such a high speed that it is not observably effected by gravity, unless that gravity is very strong. A black holes gravity is powerful enough to trap light because its escape velocity, being infinite, exceeds the speed of light (Hawking, 82). This is why a black hole is black. Once light crosses the event horizon it is drawn into the hole in space. Although the light is still hitting objects, it ...
