Spaghettification

black holes · gravity · space science · extreme physics

Stretching like noodles. Spaghettification happens when you get too close to a black hole where gravity becomes incredibly strong and uneven. The pull is so much stronger on one end of your body than the other that you'd get stretched vertically like a piece of spaghetti.

Squeeze and stretch. While you're being stretched up and down, you're also being squeezed from the sides at the same time. Your left side gets pulled left and your right side gets pulled right, like gravity is wringing you out.

Tidal forces at work. This weird stretching happens because of tidal forces, which are differences in gravity between two points. The same forces that create ocean tides on Earth become incredibly powerful and dangerous near a black hole.

Stephen Hawking's term. Famous scientist Stephen Hawking popularized the word spaghettification by describing what would happen to an astronaut falling into a black hole. He compared the stretching to how a piece of spaghetti gets pulled longer and longer.

No volume change. Even though you're being pulled in one direction and squeezed in another, a small object being spaghettified stays the same size overall. The stretching and squeezing balance each other out perfectly.