What If Earth Fell Into a Black Hole?

Unveiled

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00:00Black holes are the densest areas of spacetime known to humanity.

00:05Their gravitational pull is so extreme that not even light can escape them, making them

00:09appear invisible.

00:11No one knows what truly lies inside.

00:14They are one of the most mysterious astronomical objects of all.

00:17So what would happen if someone fell inside?

00:20Or even worse, what if our entire planet was consumed?

00:24This is Unveiled, and today we're answering the extraordinary question, what if Earth

00:28fell into a black hole?

00:30Do you need the big questions answered?

00:32Are you constantly curious?

00:34Then why not subscribe to Unveiled for more clips like this one?

00:37And ring the bell for more thought-provoking content!

00:41Einstein proposed his theory of general relativity in 1915, and shortly after, it was found to

00:47predict black holes.

00:49Forty years later, the first black hole, Cygnus X-1, was detected.

00:53It would still be another fifty years, however, until scientists directly imaged a black hole

00:58for the first time.

00:59This happened in 2019, more than a century after we first theorized them.

01:04So what do we know for sure?

01:05For one, black holes are the densest objects in the universe.

01:09They mostly form from the remains of dead stars.

01:12Most large galaxies rotate around a supermassive black hole at their centre, which are especially

01:18colossal objects.

01:19The Milky Way's supermassive anchor is named Sagittarius A-star, and it's currently measured

01:24to be 4.3 million times the sun's mass.

01:28Due to their invisible nature, it's far easier to observe black holes indirectly, through

01:33their orbiting bodies, rather than directly imaging them.

01:37We notice their presence by measuring their effect on everything around them, all of which

01:41means that as of today, we've managed to catalogue at least fifty black holes in the Milky Way.

01:46An impressive feat.

01:48However, experts believe there to be at least 100 million left to find.

01:52Gaia BH1 is the closest one we've found, being roughly 1,500 light-years away.

01:58But with so many predicted, much closer black holes are likely.

02:02So, with our title question, is it possible right now for us, for our planet, to fall

02:07into one?

02:08Unfortunately, yes, it's possible.

02:12Entire worlds can meet their fates to black holes.

02:14However, for Earth, it's extremely improbable.

02:18Estimates vary, but they're all huge.

02:20Perhaps there's a one in forty or fifty billion chance of it happening every year.

02:25With the cosmic scales being so wide, it's generally expected that we'd fall into the

02:30sun when it goes red giant in around five billion years' time, much sooner than we

02:34will ever fall into a black hole.

02:36Still, because black holes are so common, we can't rule it out entirely.

02:41And if it were to happen, then the gravitational effects in general would likely be so immense

02:46that we'd spot them long before the worst happens.

02:49Indeed, were Earth to be approaching a black hole, then we would find ourselves warped

02:54beyond survival long before we actually passed that infamous point of no return, the event

02:59horizon.

03:00But the truth is that researchers currently have no real idea what actually happens inside

03:05a black hole.

03:06It's also a mystery where the matter they consume goes.

03:10From the outside, we can't see past the event horizon.

03:13We can see the accretion disk, though, which is a black hole's most visible component.

03:18This is a swirling region of incredibly hot gas and dust particles, typically spinning

03:22beyond ninety percent of the speed of light, which creates a great deal of electromagnetic

03:27radiation.

03:29If Earth ever were heading in, then this would be our planet's final call.

03:33Ultimately, it would be the same for just a singular observer falling in as well.

03:37First the accretion disk would need to be traversed, getting hotter, brighter, and orbiting

03:42faster the further in you moved.

03:44But other than the high temperatures and quick orbit, everything would still behave fairly

03:48normally.

03:49The main peculiarities unfold at the horizon.

03:52Time warps as well as space at this point, leading to various mind-bending effects.

03:57For one, it's thought that were a person to fall in, then from the outside they would

04:02never appear to cross the event horizon at all.

04:05Their image would gradually get redder and redder, becoming more and more distant, before

04:10eventually fading away completely… but it would appear as though they'd never crossed

04:14over entirely.

04:16To some degree, it'd be more like they had simply frozen forever.

04:20Back to the inside, and from our individual's perspective, it may be that they never actually

04:25noticed they're crossing the event horizon, either.

04:28But that said, their body is now inescapably primed for one of the most primal and violent

04:33processes in the cosmos… spaghettification.

04:37This is pretty much what it sounds like.

04:39Due to changing tidal forces at and around the event horizon, our person will be continually

04:44stretched towards the very centre of the black hole.

04:47And eventually, they'll become so stretched that their body loses all recognisable integrity.

04:53Of course, by now they're dead… but if they were somehow able to witness themselves,

04:57then they'd perhaps see their own feet by looking straight upwards.

05:01Far along, though, even those feet would be no more.

05:04Their body would instead be stripped all the way back down to just the very most fundamental

05:09particles that make it.

05:11In the end, they're just one long line of tiny, tiny pieces.

05:15So, that's one answer as to what would happen if Earth fell into a black hole.

05:19Every living thing on it would get spaghettified… but surely the planet itself could never disintegrate

05:24so completely.

05:25Say a black hole moved as close to us as the moon… then yes, it may well disrupt life

05:30beyond saving… but could the whole world really be erased, too?

05:34Unfortunately, it can and would be.

05:37Among the earliest signs would be massive and unpredictable changes incurred by shifting

05:42tidal forces generated by the presence of the black hole.

05:45But, and while the gravitational forces are cause for concern, it's the radiation that

05:50would hit us first.

05:52Again, black hole accretion disks are extremely hot and radiated, which means that Earth would

05:57likely be scorched first of all… and we'd all be cooked.

06:01Our atmosphere would be completely ripped away as part of this, with its remnants being

06:06amongst the first bits of Earthly matter to be funnelled into the black hole, never to

06:10be seen again.

06:12The heat and violent winds that are then allowed to form would be so intense that they'd

06:17strip the rest of the surface.

06:18Soon, even our largest mountains would be reduced to nothing.

06:22Axial tilt and rotation speed would no longer be measurable or relevant, meaning that the

06:27same might not be happening everywhere all at once.

06:30But before long, the black hole would level the world as we know it.

06:34Next up, and the oceans would follow the atmosphere, siphoning off into space before disappearing

06:39forever.

06:40Then we'd have volcanic eruptions unlike anything ever known, exploding across all

06:46even slightly vulnerable regions.

06:48Now is when the black hole's power begins to break the inner Earth as well as the outer.

06:53The surface is awash with freshly released magma, all of which is also inescapably spiralling

06:59and dissolving in the direction of the black hole.

07:01Earth's tectonic plates, usually so vital to its most incontestable natural rhythms,

07:07start to break apart.

07:08This means huge earthquakes at first, before a total removal of the crust.

07:13The plates are no more, and the mantle is exposed, and promptly drained.

07:18All that's left is the core, before even that, the outer, then the inner, is broken

07:22down and bled dry.

07:24By this point, Earth is completely lost.

07:27All its parts are spread across the accretion disk, whittling still further down into smaller

07:32and smaller pieces.

07:34All the energy it once held is turned into accreting hot gas and radiation, and nothingness.

07:40The black hole would move on, digesting its latest meal without ceremony.

07:44Earth, humankind, and life in general would be no more.

07:48What happens to the very most basic parts once everything has been separated?

07:52As we don't know what's inside a black hole, beyond the total breakdown of physics,

07:57we can't be sure.

07:58But the very centre is generally described as a singularity.

08:02This is a point of infinite density, with zero volume, where all absorbed matter will

08:07eventually end up.

08:08In this particular what-if scenario, it's what skyscrapers and trees, cars and books,

08:14rocks, water, people, and animals are all destined for.

08:18It's where the past, present, and the future all bends and blurs into one, until it's

08:24as though none of it ever existed at all.

08:27What do you think?

08:28Is there anything we missed?

08:29Let us know in the comments, check out these other clips from Unveiled, and make sure you

08:33subscribe and ring the bell for our latest content.

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