If you could go faster than light, could you escape the event horizon?

Black holes interest me, they have an immensely high mass density and a very strong gravity. It is said that once you get past the event horizon of the black hole, you can’t get out. But suppose a body can travel faster than light, could the body escape the immense gravity of the black hole?

Asker: Vince, 14 years old

Answer

If you could go faster than the speed of light, you could indeed escape from the ‘event horizon’, which would then no longer be an ‘event horizon’.

The problem is that it is IMPOSSIBLE to go faster than light. To accelerate from a certain speed, you need energy. And to reach the speed of light, a body with a mass different from zero needs infinite energy. It is not available.

If you could go faster than light, could you escape the event horizon?

Answered by

prof. Christopher Waelkens

Astronomy

Catholic University of Leuven
Old Market 13 3000 Leuven
https://www.kuleuven.be/

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