- #1
Karl Coryat
- 104
- 3
- TL;DR Summary
- If you had to explain spaghettification to a lay person who's new to general relativity and spacetime curvature, how would you do it?
I enjoy explaining spacetime curvature to people with a rank-beginner understanding of GR. But someone asked about that favorite concept in pop-sci, spaghettification. I'm having a hard time with it.
If you fell into a black hole, there's no reference frame within which you could describe what's happening to your entire body. So how would you explain tidal forces emerging out of a spacetime curvature that has a gradient? I attempted a thought experiment involving a group of marbles descending radially toward a black hole, and then the same group connected by a string, but it didn't work out without appealing to a difference in Newtonian "pulling" forces. Doing a quick search in other forums, answers there also tend to mix in gravitational forces, which is equally unhelpful.
If possible, please keep technical terms to a minimum. Thanks!
If you fell into a black hole, there's no reference frame within which you could describe what's happening to your entire body. So how would you explain tidal forces emerging out of a spacetime curvature that has a gradient? I attempted a thought experiment involving a group of marbles descending radially toward a black hole, and then the same group connected by a string, but it didn't work out without appealing to a difference in Newtonian "pulling" forces. Doing a quick search in other forums, answers there also tend to mix in gravitational forces, which is equally unhelpful.
If possible, please keep technical terms to a minimum. Thanks!