Are Black Holes Consuming the Universe?

Question... If black holes are the most destructive force in the universe and they grow in size by consuming matter and joining with other black holes which would also mean their gravitational force would grow as well... Wouldn't it be reasonable to ascertain that eventually black holes will consume all matter in the universe, then eventually each other until the last remaining object in the universe would be a single massive black hole? Which could also be a singularity...
- CJ Grubb (age 43)

Hi CJ,

Your questions rest on a false assumption. In fact, black holes are not the most destructive force in the universe. In fact, they aren't especially violent or dangerous, in and of themselves.

For example, if you replaced the sun with a black hole of the same mass, the earth would keep orbiting around just as it does today. (Of course, the earth would go dark and begin cooling 8 minutes later...)

Black holes tend to have very strong gravitational fields due to their high mass concentrations, but they aren't magical vacuum cleaners that drag distant objects helplessly to their demise.

So that's good!

David Schmid

(published on 05/02/2013)