Do black holes always rotate in the same direction ?

[The French Tandem]

What I don't get about black holes, is if they have infinite mass, why don't they have infinitely dense gravity -

No one said they have infinite mass. They just have a huge mass. So huge that even at the speed of light, which is fast but not infinite, you can't escape their gravity. As a comparison, if your legs were strong enough for you to jump vertically at about 25 000 mph, you would escape Earth's gravity immediately!

[ian]

Actually, I should have said 'infinite density'. A singularity, at least according to the equations of general relativity, has infinite density but finite mass (the mass of the star that collapse minus what blew away). But anyway, 'infinite density' is just a physicist's way of saying we don't have a clue. Infinity is generally not a good thing.

If you did travel at the speed of light you'd have infinite mass though. Which is why you can't.

[The French Tandem]

Yep! A singularity is just an elegant way to say that normal maths and physics don't work anymore!

[Ham]

If we sent a million left-handed M6 screws into space, then however far they travel, or how much they spin/tumble, they won't become right-handed.

[I don't actually think black-holes all have the same "handedness", but it's not a ridiculous idea; the laws of electromagnetism are "handed". ]

You might have thought so, but what would happen if you were observing through a mirror? The object remains the same but you will perceive it as being left handed.

[mattc]

If we sent a million left-handed M6 screws into space, then however far they travel, or how much they spin/tumble, they won't become right-handed.

[I don't actually think black-holes all have the same "handedness", but it's not a ridiculous idea; the laws of electromagnetism are "handed". ]

You might have thought so, but what would happen if you were observing through a mirror? The object remains the same but you will perceive it as being left handed.

I suppose if some of the astronomers doing our experiment forget they are using reflecting telescopes, then that could be a problem. Otherwise, probably not an issue

[mcshroom]

Aren't black holes Brilliant!

No, I would imagine they were quite dark.

Black Holes suck!

[Pedaldog.]

If black holes suck stuff in, does Dark matter come out the other end?

[Aunt Maud]

I think that's a wormhole. Einstein reckoned that there were two types, common or garden black holes and wormholes.

What was in that pipe ?