N:dlzc D:aol T:com \(dlzc\):

"N:dlzc D:aol T:com (dlzc)" N: dlzc1 D:cox wrote in
message news:Hl20c.4515$h23.389@fed1read06...
...
How then can I measure the total charge?

It is written on the event horizon, remember? As if it were stuck there,
like a fly on flypaper.

In light of Bilge's excellent response, I retract this.

I don't think it's necessary for you to retract that, actually.
Remember, that what I described was for an observer _outside_ the
black hole, in which case, all gauss' law says is that the field
is determined by any gaussian surface enclosing the charge.

Inside the black hole, my guess is that there might be something
counter-intuitive. Recall that for an observer _inside_ the black hole,
the radial direction, which is toward the singularity, is timelike, so
that it lies in the observer's future. It would seem that implies that the
observer should not measure an electric field originating at the
singularity, since that field would originate in the observer's future and
propagate toward the past. However, this is one of those things that would
be best answered by someone who has a better idea of what's happening
inside a black hole with respect to the sigularity and the interpretation
of the coordinates.