The conversation between human and AI assistant.
What happens to matter that enters a black hole?
Can black holes evaporate over time?
Yes, black holes can slowly evaporate over time due to a process called Hawking radiation. This is where particles are created outside the event horizon of the black hole, and then one of the particles crosses the event horizon while the other escapes. This causes the black hole to lose mass over time until it eventually disappears completely. However, this process takes an incredibly long time and black holes with masses comparable to that of the Sun will take many trillions of years to evaporate.