The strange fate of a person falling into a black hole (BBC Earth)
It could happen to anyone. Maybe you're out trying to find a new habitable planet for the human race, or maybe you're just on a long walk and you slip. Whatever the circumstances, at some point we all find ourselves confronted with the age-old question: what happens when you fall into a black hole?
You might expect to get crushed, or maybe torn to pieces. But the reality is stranger than that.
The instant you entered the black hole, reality would split in two. In one, you would be instantly incinerated, and in the other you would plunge on into the black hole utterly unharmed. (…)
So the laws of physics require that you be both outside the black hole in a pile of ashes and inside the black hole alive and well. Last but not least, there's a third law of physics that says information can't be cloned. You have to be in two places, but there can only be one copy of you.
Somehow, the laws of physics point us towards a conclusion that seems rather nonsensical. Physicists call this infuriating conundrum the black hole information paradox. Luckily, in the 1990s they found a way to resolve it. (…)
Other interesting links on the topic:
- Andrew Hamilton's simulations https://jila.colorado.edu/~ajsh/insidebh/intro.html
- https://www.cosmotography.com/images/supermassive_blackholes_drive_galaxy_evolution.html
- https://www.forbes.com/sites/startswithabang/2019/02/23/ask-ethan-what-happens-when-you-fall-into-a-black-hole/
- https://www.forbes.com/sites/startswithabang/2019/06/01/ask-ethan-whats-it-like-when-you-fall-into-a-black-hole/
Rotating black holes have a ring singularity, with inner and outer event horizons, as well as a zone named "Ergosphere". Fun quote from https://jila.colorado.edu/~ajsh/insidebh/waterfall.html:
A former student once called the ergosphere the place where little children come from, because nothing can remain at rest there.
