If I were to drop my phone into a black hole, would I be able to catch it?

Question

Say, for the sake of argument, I am outside the event horizon of a black hole and accidentally drop my phone (or some other object) into the hole. If I were to enter the black hole, would I ever be able to catch it? I understand I would never be able to take it out, but if I tried to chase after it, would I ever catch up with it?

Answer 1

The question is similar to: "Can I catch my phone if I drop it off the roof?"

The answer is yes, but: (1) You'll require some sort of boost to catch up to it (in the language of falling objects on Earth, to get an acceleration larger than $g$), and (2) You only have a finite amount of time to catch up to it.

However, while in the case of the roof you have some chance of turning your rockets around and avoiding the splat, in the case of the black hole both you and the phone are headed for the singularity (with uncomfortable tidal forces along the way).

Answer 2

That depends how long you wait. If you chase after it immediately you can catch up to it. You might even be able to catch it before it reaches the event horizon.

If you wait too long, however, there is no hope, and the phone will inevitably reach the singularity before you can get there.