back to article Stephen Hawking to rattle off answers online for more than a week

Theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking will be, as of Monday, answering questions posted on Reddit for more than a week. It will apparently be the longest AMA (Ask Me Anything) session in the history of the freeloading commentblurt site, which will no doubt appreciate the publicity boost from Hawking after a tough month for the …

  1. W Donelson

    I've always wondered....

    ... if the Graviton is the particle that carries gravitational energy, how does it escape the event horizon of a black hole....

    1. Grikath

      Re: I've always wondered....

      My guess is...

      A serious amount of *whoosh* as he breaks out the Math .. ;)

    2. This post has been deleted by its author

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: I've always wondered....

        Massless does not save it from a black hole (which stops even light). There is little to nothing to help escape from a black hole.

        Perhaps, it does not escape or there are no gravitons... under some models?

        1. Yet Another Anonymous coward Silver badge

          Re: I've always wondered....

          Particles don't really exchange real gravitons to feel gravity anymore than electrons exchange real photons to repel electromagnetically - they are virtual particles.

          Or if you prefer it's all just an accounting trick to make the laws of physics balance.

        2. Antonymous Coward
          Holmes

          Re: I've always wondered....

          > Massless does not save it from a black hole (which stops even light).

          Light has mass. As do all the other sizes of photon.

          p = mrel v

          ...except when they're resting but you're not going to escape a black hole while resting.

          1. Anonymous Coward
            Facepalm

            Re: I've always wondered....

            Thanks. But I would assume anyone referring to mass in this instance is referring to rest mass (poor concept when scrutinised, but one none the less).

            So "having no rest mass does not save it from a black hole" is still a correct statement. ;)

            I agree, everything else considered, it is effected by gravity regardless, and I know of no one supposing anything that is not effected by gravity. :)

            1. Zmodem

              Re: I've always wondered....

              most of what hawkins says is shit, and belongs in the 80s

              light does`nt escape a black hole, a black hole just pulls it apart, its just a radio wave, the force of the edge of a black hole is`nt strong enough so it bends light

              there are probably ripples in a black hole field which lets some light in, if any, light being bent is how they find black holes

              then in a pure vacuum there is no physics, unless you find dark matter

              1. John Brown (no body) Silver badge
                Facepalm

                Re: I've always wondered....

                "most of what hawkins says is shit, and belongs in the 80s"

                Yes, the 1680's. Arrrrr, Captain, shiver me timbers.

                On the other hand, what Hawking says is probably beyond the ken of most of us.

                1. JDX Gold badge

                  Re: I've always wondered....

                  Viewing things as particles is so 1960s ;)

                  It's all about fields these days.

                  1. Zmodem

                    Re: I've always wondered....

                    most of what i say is beyond most people, it takes a good few years for someone to work it out and a video to appear on youtube

                    1. Zmodem

                      Re: I've always wondered....

                      make a pulse propulsion thruster, with that 10Mw perpetual generator on board

                      baterry strobe that can goto 0.1ms or so

                      http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/NEW-MINI-LED-STROBE-LIGHT-MULTI-SPEED-FLASHING-LIGHT-EFFECT-DJ-PARTY-DISCO-/170778501002?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item27c3311f8a

                      connect some magnets instead of a LED

                      http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/12V-DC-5-5LB-2-5kg-P20-15-Electric-Lifting-Lift-Magnet-Electromagnet-Solenoid-/261936199382?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item3cfc9d36d6

                      http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/N50-Strong-Round-Ring-Magnets-20mm-x-4mm-Hole-5mm-Rare-Earth-Neodymium-/151438040614?var=&hash=item2342691e26

                      1. Zmodem

                        Re: I've always wondered....

                        if you try and make a pulse propulsion thruster, you might have to drill the hole bigger in the neodymium magnets

                        then if you do some dodgy math, you would need a 8.4 Kw thruster to lift 25,000 kg or something, without running a super computer to design them

            2. John Brown (no body) Silver badge
              Headmaster

              Re: I've always wondered....

              "I agree, everything else considered, it is effected by gravity regardless, and I know of no one supposing anything that is not effected by gravity. :)"

              Affected. This is science. You need to use the correct terms. Go stand at the blackboard and write out "Effected does not mean what I think it means." five hundred times.

              <Grammatical error included for a fect>

    3. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: I've always wondered....

      "if the Graviton is the particle that carries gravitational energy, how does it escape the event horizon of a black hole"

      As it is *the* particle that "carries gravitational energy" then by definition it is unlikely to *be* affected by the effect it causes. Otherwise it gets a bit complicated, where "it" is pretty much everything 8)

      IOW, uninformed use of technical terms that neither of us really understands, can lead to spurious contradictions that an expert would consider a bit silly.

  2. Harry the Bastard

    if....

    soz, couldn't resist

  3. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Will audio from his synthesizer be available as well?

    I need to listen to Division Bell again.

  4. Yet Another Anonymous coward Silver badge

    slowed communications method.

    He's on virgin broadband ?

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Someone should ask him his opinion of his appearance on Epic Rap Battles of History.

  6. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    RE. Re: I've always wondered....

    I dare someone to ask him about EmDrive :-)

  7. stucs201

    Not quite an AMA

    It seems he's specifically wanting to talk about AI.

  8. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Re. Not quite an AMA

    Ah, Rise of the Machines (tm) and all that.

    Wonder if Prof. Hawking wants to be uploaded or not, that would be an interesting topical question to ask.

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