# Do black holes frighten you? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [February 20, 2024, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-black-holes-frighten-you/997839 "2024-02-20T16:04:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Love\_Rhombus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/love_rhombus/32/10694_2.png) [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2024, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-black-holes-frighten-you/997839/1 "2024-02-20T16:04:42Z")
Maybe it’s a depth thing-I’m a little weirded out by very deep water too. For example, this article about a distant black hole gave me a mild case of the heebie-jeebies. Just the idea of this thing pulling you in and there’s nothing you can do to stop it. > **[Astronomers find what may be the universe’s brightest object with a black...](https://www.nbcnews.com/science/space/black-hole-devouring-sun-day-may-universes-brightest-object-rcna139507)** > > The quasar swirls like a cosmic hurricane and is described by Australian researcher Christian Wolf as "the most violent place that we know in the universe." ---
**Author:** ![Si\_Amigo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/si_amigo/32/2877_2.png) [@Si\_Amigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Si_Amigo)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2024, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-black-holes-frighten-you/997839/2 "2024-02-20T16:19:41Z")
Mankind will be already dead by the time we have to worry about black holes. Too much other shit to worry about in the near future to be concerned about black holes. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2024, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-black-holes-frighten-you/997839/3 "2024-02-20T16:29:18Z")
There is nothing you can do to stop the Earth from pulling you into a sinkhole were one to open up beneath you. Nor to stop it pulling you to your doom were you to foolishly step off a cliff or a 4-plus story building. Any object magically teleported to 10K or 100K or even ~1M miles away from Earth at zero relative velocity will be “sucked in” just as much as into a black hole and absent big engines and lots of fuel can’t do a damned thing about that either. See **[Hill sphere - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hill_sphere)** for more. Earth’s gravity is even strong enough that it will shred anything that approaches it that’s held together only by its own gravity. Or at least would given enough time; most incoming objects pass that limit and impact the atmosphere minutes or seconds later, whereas the shredding process would be a matter of months and centuries. See **[Roche limit - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roche_limit)** for more. Black holes admittedly _are_ weird things. But what makes them go is not any different qualitatively than the gravity that keeps your butt happily in its chair rather than floating haplessly around the room. There’s just more of it. Lots more. Fear or even heebie-jeebies are misplaced. Not surprising some folks get them, but not really a logical response. I get all misty-eyed about great feats of organized bureaucracy; it takes all kinds. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2024, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-black-holes-frighten-you/997839/4 "2024-02-20T16:29:58Z")
> [@Love\_Rhombus](#): > > Just the idea of this thing pulling you in and there’s nothing you can do to stop it. Here’s a book you definitely should not read then. 😉 > **[Earth](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/96471.Earth)** > > TIME IS RUNNING OUT Decades from now, an artificial bla… ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2024, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-black-holes-frighten-you/997839/5 "2024-02-20T16:44:53Z")
I don’t get creeped out by the “deep hole” aspect. More by the “infinitely small infinitely dense” singularity at the middle. What does it look like? If I could see a “naked singularity” (scientists used to think it was possible, back in the stone age of black hole understanding) would I go mad? Now I believe scientists think singularities aren’t infinitely small and infinitely dense, just mostly so. Which makes me sleep easier. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2024, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-black-holes-frighten-you/997839/6 "2024-02-20T17:12:13Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > Now I believe scientists think singularities aren’t infinitely small and infinitely dense, just mostly so. Which makes me sleep easier. So you mean even the weirdness comes in an irreducible quantum. Which gives you solace? ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2024, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-black-holes-frighten-you/997839/7 "2024-02-20T17:19:20Z")
Only black holes? That’s racist! ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2024, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-black-holes-frighten-you/997839/8 "2024-02-20T17:22:28Z")
“the most violent place that we know in the universe.” Obviously never been to Flint, Michigan. ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2024, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-black-holes-frighten-you/997839/9 "2024-02-20T17:24:18Z")
It takes a worried man To sing a worried song But if you fall into a black hole You won’t be worried long ---
**Author:** ![Love\_Rhombus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/love_rhombus/32/10694_2.png) [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2024, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-black-holes-frighten-you/997839/10 "2024-02-20T17:27:12Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > But what makes them go is not any different qualitatively than the gravity that keeps your butt happily in its chair rather than floating haplessly around the room. I’ll thank you not to ascribe emotional states to my butt. For all you know, it’s world-weary and contemplative. > [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > Only black holes? That’s racist! Show me a white hole (in the astronomical sense) and I’ll be weirded out by it too, no doubt. ---
**Author:** ![Mikkel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mikkel/32/13151_2.png) [@Mikkel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mikkel)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2024, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-black-holes-frighten-you/997839/11 "2024-02-20T17:38:40Z")
Wasn’t a quasar theorised to be a white hole once upon a time? Later disproved, but still. ---
**Author:** ![Limmin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f04885/32.png) [@Limmin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Limmin)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2024, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-black-holes-frighten-you/997839/12 "2024-02-20T17:47:35Z")
> [@Cervaise](#): > > Here’s a book you definitely should not read then. 😉 That’s a great one! Here is another one in the same vein: > **[The Forge of God (Forge of God, #1)](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/64732.The_Forge_of_God)** > > On July 26, Arthur Gordon learns that Europa, the sixth… ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2024, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-black-holes-frighten-you/997839/13 "2024-02-20T17:50:49Z")
> [@DPRK](#): > > It takes a worried man > To sing a worried song > But if you fall into a black hole > You won’t be worried long IIRC the time from when you cross the event horizon until you’re shredded even if made of scrith will seem subjectively to be nearly infinite in duration. That much gravity really does a number on time itself as well as space and matter. ---
**Author:** ![griffin1977](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@griffin1977](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/griffin1977)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2024, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-black-holes-frighten-you/997839/14 "2024-02-20T17:51:59Z")
Can’t say as I have ever been remotely scared by black holes. Some of the other concepts in cosmology are a little scary to me. Like gamma ray bursts which could fry us without warning, or false vacuum that could collapse (or even be collapsed by a CERN-like particle collision) and instantly wipe the universe. Not in a logical “this is a serious risk we should mitigate” way, but in a more visceral “ooo thats a bit scary” way. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2024, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-black-holes-frighten-you/997839/15 "2024-02-20T18:02:17Z")
> [@Mikkel](#): > > Wasn’t a quasar theorised to be a white hole once upon a time? Yes. > [@griffin1977](#): > > or false vacuum that could collapse (or even be collapsed by a CERN-like particle collision) and instantly wipe the universe. Worrying about that one is like worrying about how it would feel if the Titan submersible implodes with you in it. You won’t be around to contemplate. And you’ll never have to worry about worrying about anything ever again. > [@LSLGuy](#): > > So you mean even the weirdness comes in an irreducible quantum. Which gives you solace? Infinities bother me. They’re so…big. ---
**Author:** ![griffin1977](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@griffin1977](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/griffin1977)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2024, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-black-holes-frighten-you/997839/16 "2024-02-20T18:15:59Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > Worrying about that one is like worrying about how it would feel if the Titan submersible implodes with you in it. You won’t be around to contemplate. And you’ll never have to worry about worrying about anything ever again. As I said it more a visceral “ooo that’s scary” feeling rather than an actual thing I should logically be worried about (unlike getting on board the Titan submersible, which is absolutely something to be logically worried about 😉 ). ---
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2024, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-black-holes-frighten-you/997839/17 "2024-02-20T18:16:34Z")
Black holes are definitely weird and confusing, to be sure. Weirder and smarter people than you or I feel the same about it. But being actually _frightened_ does not seem reasonable. The chance of getting destructively sucked into a black hole is much, much smaller than the odds of getting destructively sucked into the Sun (or for that matter the Moon or the Earth). ---
**Author:** ![Love\_Rhombus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/love_rhombus/32/10694_2.png) [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2024, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-black-holes-frighten-you/997839/18 "2024-02-20T18:41:30Z")
I once read an article that there’s a black hole at the center of our galaxy. That also low-key disturbed me. ---
**Author:** ![nelliebly](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nelliebly/32/5422_2.png) [@nelliebly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nelliebly)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2024, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-black-holes-frighten-you/997839/19 "2024-02-20T18:41:59Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > IIRC the time from when you cross the event horizon until you’re shredded Spaghettification! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2024, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-black-holes-frighten-you/997839/20 "2024-02-20T18:51:10Z")
> [@DPRK](#): > > But if you fall into a black hole > You won’t be worried long You may not be worried, but you will be long. > **[Spaghettification](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spaghettification)** > > In astrophysics, spaghettification (sometimes referred to as the noodle effect) is the vertical stretching and horizontal compression of objects into long thin shapes (rather like spaghetti) in a very strong, non-homogeneous gravitational field. It is caused by extreme tidal forces. In the most extreme cases, near a black hole, the stretching and compression are so powerful that no object can resist it. Within a small region, the horizontal compression balances the vertical stretching so that [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-black-holes-frighten-you/997839.md?page=2)