Is it possible to go inside a black hole and survive?

Can you venture into a black hole and live to tell the tale?

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Black holes possess an extremely strong gravitational attraction

Black holes possess an extremely strong gravitational attraction

Asked by Anne-Marie Bancroft

Most likely not. Black holes, whether they have the mass of one star or a million stars, have a very strong gravitational pull that increases enormously the closer you get to them.

This pull would create powerful tidal forces that would stretch you until they pulled you apart in a messy process called spaghettification. However, the more massive the black hole, the weaker its gravity – so for the biggest black holes in the universe the tidal forces might not be so great as to rip you apart. That is, at least not until you reach the singularity at the heart of one of these objects.

However, time will appear to slow down for you as seen from observers on the outside and once you are past the event horizon – the point of no return – there is no way that anything, not even light, can escape the black hole.

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