How Does a Black Hole Actually Swallow Light?

A black hole is so strong that it can pull light into it, just like a giant vacuum cleaner.

Imagine you're playing with marbles on a table. If you roll them toward the edge of the table, they'll fall off, right? Now imagine the table is super stretched out and gets more curved as you go near the edge. That’s kind of what happens around a black hole. It warps space so much that even light can't escape.

Light is like a tiny, fast runner. Normally, it zips through space without stopping, just like how your friend zips past you on the playground. But near a black hole, space is so warped that it's like running uphill while someone pushes you from behind. The black hole’s gravity is so strong that even light can't keep going, it gets pulled in, like marbles falling off a super stretched-out table.

If light can’t escape, we can’t see what’s inside the black hole, and that’s why it looks black!