Membrane paradigm

The membrane paradigm is a formalism used to study black holes which allows dynamo theory to be used to model the properties of the material falling into them.

Because of the strong gravitational fields near the black hole, general relativity must be taken into account when calculating the properties of the black hole. The membrane paradigm relies on a calculation that shows that a black hole in general relativity has the same electric properties as a conducting ball of 377 ohms in Newtonian physics. By viewing the black hole as such an object, one can then take many of the results of Newtonian dynamo theory and then apply them to the physics of black holes.