What Happens When You Fall into a Black Hole?

The black hole is exactly what it looks like–a black dark void where no light can escape. It’s sometimes fascinating, but most often it’s terrifying. The black swirly appearance and emptiness gives off an unsettling feeling. Anyone who looks at an image of a black hole will wonder, at least once, “what happens if I fall in?”

Of course, there isn’t actual evidence of what happens in a black hole, but the power of science always prevails! With help of theories and math, we are able to hypothesize the possible outcomes.

The Beginning

First, and what might be obvious, is that falling into a black hole leads to death. Black holes have an event horizon, where the escape velocity is equal to the speed of light. Death by a black hole is avoidable before then, but once you reach the event horizon… say goodbye. However, the size of the black hole will matter on how and when you die. There are two main types of black holes: stellar mass black holes, and supermassive black holes. The former is smaller and is created when a star collapse and “dies.” The latter is much larger, and are found in the center of galaxies.

When you fall into a stellar mass black hole, “spaghettification” will happen. That is, your body will pull, like taffy, until it rips apart. It sounds very painful, and it is. Luckily, the “death zone” of a stellar mass black hole is much larger than the other, meaning a quick death. Supermassive black holes, on the other hand, leads to a slow, but fortunately painless, death. Your body will essentially remain intact before reaching the “death zone.”

Halfway There

Next, your sense of time will be severely warped. According to Einstein’s theory of general relativity, space is fabric-like. Thus, any massive object that warps space, will also warp time. With this logic, hypothetically you will see the universe speed up; others, witnesses of your death, will see you freeze, then disappear. It’s as if you are seeing the future, while others are seeing the time stop.

The End

Finally, you will die. No one exactly knows how, but there are two possible outcomes: you will hit a firewall and be instantly terminated; or you will be spaghettified by the gravitational pull and stretch until you’re merely “narrow strings of matter.”