Re: Another dumb black hole question (charge and acceleration)

Tim Little wrote:
> The event horizon is a purely geometric criterion: the boundary
> between spacetime points that have timelike paths "out to infinity"
> and those that do not.  The proton would be subject to an
> electromagnetic force, but the amount of force required to "hover"
> arbitrarily close to the event horizon of a black hole is unbounded.
> No force can keep the proton from falling in if it p***** the event
> horizon.

Though there is such a thing as a maximally charged black hole, and 
IIRC, the actual charge/mass ratio thereof is rather low, much less than 
that of a proton. So presumably a proton in the vicinity of such would 
feel a net outward force.

Does this mean the _inward_ force required to make a proton hover 
arbitrarily close to the event horizon of a maximally (positively) 
charged black hole is also unbounded?

Or is it the case that if a proton starts off too near the event 
horizon, the net force becomes inward and it gets gobbled up after all?

If the latter is true, is the explanation that the electromagnetic 
potential energy adds to the proton's total mass/energy so that its 
effective charge/mass ratio drops below that of maximal charge?