How Can a Black Hole Lose Mass If Nothing Can Escape

Night Science Stories · Nov 5, 2026 · 2h 37m · transcript

How can a black hole lose mass if absolutely nothing can escape its gravity? It sounds impossible. After all, even light cannot escape once it crosses the event horizon. So how can something that traps everything eventually become smaller and disappear?

The answer lies in one of the strangest predictions in modern physics: Hawking radiation.

In the 1970s, physicist Stephen Hawking discovered that black holes are not completely black. According to quantum theory, they can slowly release energy into space, causing them to lose mass over incredibly long periods of time.

But here is the…