Which excerpt from Neil deGrasse Tyson’s “Death by Black Hole” best provides evidence that escape from a black hole is impossibl
e? . . . the speed required to escape a black hole is greater than the speed of light itself. . . . light travels at exactly 299,792,458 meters per second in a vacuum and is the fastest stuff in the universe. But if the black hole were 6,000 feet across, then the same man’s feet would be only one-tenth of 1 percent closer to the center than his head, and the difference in gravity—the tidal force—would be correspondingly small. Meanwhile, the stuff within the event horizon has collapsed to an infinitesimal point at the black hole’s center. So black holes are not so much deadly objects as they are deadly regions of space. If you stumbled upon a black hole and found yourself falling feet-first toward its center, then as you got closer, the black hole’s force of gravity would grow astronomically.
The quotations 'the speed needed to escape a black hole exceeds the speed of light itself' and 'is the fastest substance in the universe' form a logical relationship that helps us deduce that escaping a black hole is impossible. Since the only method to break free from a black hole involves exceeding the speed of light, which is unattainable, escaping from a black hole is therefore not feasible.
The correct choice is the first option (A/1). The velocity necessary to break free from a black hole actually exceeds the speed of light. Specifically, light travels at precisely 299,792,458 meters per second in a vacuum, which is the universe's maximum speed.
