What Would it be Like to Fall into a Black Hole? |
Unfortunately, (or fortunately, depending on how you
look at it) there isn't any accurate way to demonstrate a black
hole, or what would happen to you if you were caught in one.
Perhaps the closest would be the medieval rack as mentioned
earlier.
Do you member the stop-action cartoon character Gumby? Imagine this green rubbery eraser head stretched out by pulling on it head and foot. (Does Gumby really have feet?). Or you could do the same with a bit of Silly Putty. With Silly Putty, the chained molecules of which it is made line up and stretch out as you pull the material. This isn't quite the same as what would happen in a black hole, but perhaps it will give you an idea.
With Gumby, you could probably stretch it with all your strength and it would just stretch. There is question whether a human body would do that under the enormous strains imposed by gravity while falling into a black hole. Chances are that it would break apart, and then the pieces break apart, far before the spaghetti stage! If you pull the Silly Putty slowly, it will stretch out to a very thin thread before it breaks. But it you pull it suddenly, it will break as the molecules rip apart in the sudden strain. Although the strain on a body falling into a large black hole would be more gradual, it seems likely that the molecules would break apart before the body would deform into something akin to long, thin pasta! This is open to debate, but so far no volunteers have come forth to test it!
NOTE: If you don't have any Silly Putty, you can make imitation Silly Putty. Find out here: Pseudo Silly Putty.
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