Spaghettification

Spaghettification is the process by which any object would be stretched and ripped apart by gravitational forces on falling into a black hole. Essentially, when a particle draws too close to the source of the powerful gravitational field, it is stretched into long thin shapes, like pasta.

The term was coined by Stephen Hawking in his book, A Brief History of Time, where he likened this process to spaghetti. Much like other aspects of the black hole theory and model, this effect of drawing too close to a black hole remains untested, unobserved and unproven, and relates to areas of physics that remain largely unexplored, namely the concept of a force so powerful that no matter what components make up a piece of matter, it will be stretched further than is deemed by many to be within the realms of physical plausibility.

“Sure, black holes can kill us, and in a variety of interesting and gruesome ways. But, all in all, we may owe our very existence to them.” ― Phil Plait

Definition of Science

‘There are lots of definitions of science, but I’ll say it’s is a body of knowledge and a method of how we learn that knowledge.

Science tells us that the stuff we think we know may not be perfectly known; it may be partly or entirely wrong. We need to watch the universe, see how it behaves, make guesses about why it’s doing what it’s doing and try to think of ways to support or disprove those ideas.

That last part is important.

Science must be – above all else – honest, if we really want to get to the bottom of things. Understanding that our understanding might be wrong is essential, and trying to figure out the ways we may be mistaken is the only way that science can help us find our way to the Truth.

Or at least, the nearest approximation to it.

Science learns. We meander a bit as we use it, but in the long run we get closer and closer to understanding reality. And that is the strength of science. And it’s all around us.’

– Plait. P. (2015, January 15) Introduction to Astronomy: Crash Course Astronomy #1