How Tall Would I Be If I Stood On The Surface Of a Black Hole?

Question

On earth, I'm 5-11

Answer 1

Actually, the standard answer that most people give about being crushed by the tidal forces and stretched into long strands of spaghetti is only true for "non-rotating" blackholes. Of course, in reality, all blackholes have rotation, because of conservation of angular momentum. The equations describing a rotating blackhole tells us that you would not be crushed to death, but you would pass through into what is called an Einstein-Rosen Bridge, aka spacetime wormhole.

Also, how tall you are on the surface of a blackhole is relative (by surface, I assume you're talking about the Event Horizon, since blackholes have no surfaces to stand on.). According to people on Earth or at a safe distance from the blackhole, you most likely will look a heck of alot shorter due to Special Relativity, and it will all depend on how fast you're moving. But according to you, who is moving into the blackhole, you will detect NO change to your height.

Answer 2

(1) a black hole does not have a surface. It only has a horizon, which is the limit where the escape velocity is equal to the speed of light, i.e. anything that approaches closer than that limit, cannot escape (since nothing goes faster than light)

(2) unless you went for a very, very large black hole (I'm talking about one several light years across at least), then the tide forces on the parts of your body would become so intense as you approached (and long before you reached the horizon), that you'd be ripped apart. Tidal forces are caused by the difference in gravitational forces between the part of you that's closer to the black hole, and the part that is further away - since a black hole is so dense these forces become strong enough to rip you to (very small) bits way before you've reached the horizon.

(3) even if you weren't shread to bits, as you approached the horizon, to you everything would look the same, time flowing at the same speed, distances the same, your height the same, etc. It is only to an external observer that it would seem that your time was slowing down, your height compressing, etc. As for giving a number, that's impossible w/o have more data, such as the mass of the black hole to start with.

hope this helps a bit

Answer 3

You would still be 5-11, because to get to the "surface" of a black hole intact you would have to be indestructable.

Answer 4

If your body actually managed to stay in tact, you'd flatten and merge yourself into becoming part of the black hole! In reality, it's gravity would pull your body apart at the sub-atomic level before you even got to the surface.

Answer 5

a black hole has a surface?

Answer 6

Less than a micron.

Answer 7

You would be split to elementary particles.

Answer 8

You would be dissipated and unable to stand.

Answer 9

very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very tiny.