FASTER THRU LIGHT 209
solution for the gravity of a pointlike star was like a Trojan Horse. On
the outside it looked like a gift from heaven, but on the inside there
lurked all sorts of demons and ghosts. But if you accepted one, you had
to accept the other. Schwarzschild's solution showed that as you approached this pointlike star, bizarre things happened. Surrounding the
star was an invisible sphere (called the "event horizon") that was a
point of no return. Everything checked in, but nothing could check out,
like a Roach Motel. Once you passed through the event horizon, you
never came back. (Once inside the event horizon, you would have to
travel faster than light to escape back outside the event horizon, and
that would be impossible.)
As you approached the event horizon, your atoms would be
stretched by tidal forces. The gravity felt by your feet would be much
greater than the gravity felt by your head, so you would be "spaghettified" and then ripped apart. Similarly, the atoms of your body would
also be stretched and torn apart by gravity.
To an outside observer watching you approach the event horizon,
it would appear that you were slowing down in time. In fact, as you hit
the event horizon, it would appear that time had stopped!
Furthermore, as you fell past the event horizon, you would see
light that has been trapped and circulating around this black hole for
billions of years. It would seem as if you were watching a motion picture film, detailing the entire history of the black hole, going back to its
very origin.
And finally, if you could fall straight through to the black hole,
there would be another universe on the other side. This is called the
Einstein-Rosen Bridge, first introduced by Einstein in 1935; it is now
called a wormhole.
Einstein and other physicists believed a star could never evolve naturally into such a monstrous object. In fact, in 1939 Einstein published
a paper showing that a circulating mass of gas and dust will never condense into such a black hole. So although there was a wormhole lurking in the center of a black hole, he was confident that such a strange
object could never form by natural means. In fact, astrophysicist Arthur
Eddington once said that there should "be a law of nature to prevent a
solution for the gravity of a pointlike star was like a Trojan Horse. On
the outside it looked like a gift from heaven, but on the inside there
lurked all sorts of demons and ghosts. But if you accepted one, you had
to accept the other. Schwarzschild's solution showed that as you approached this pointlike star, bizarre things happened. Surrounding the
star was an invisible sphere (called the "event horizon") that was a
point of no return. Everything checked in, but nothing could check out,
like a Roach Motel. Once you passed through the event horizon, you
never came back. (Once inside the event horizon, you would have to
travel faster than light to escape back outside the event horizon, and
that would be impossible.)
As you approached the event horizon, your atoms would be
stretched by tidal forces. The gravity felt by your feet would be much
greater than the gravity felt by your head, so you would be "spaghettified" and then ripped apart. Similarly, the atoms of your body would
also be stretched and torn apart by gravity.
To an outside observer watching you approach the event horizon,
it would appear that you were slowing down in time. In fact, as you hit
the event horizon, it would appear that time had stopped!
Furthermore, as you fell past the event horizon, you would see
light that has been trapped and circulating around this black hole for
billions of years. It would seem as if you were watching a motion picture film, detailing the entire history of the black hole, going back to its
very origin.
And finally, if you could fall straight through to the black hole,
there would be another universe on the other side. This is called the
Einstein-Rosen Bridge, first introduced by Einstein in 1935; it is now
called a wormhole.
Einstein and other physicists believed a star could never evolve naturally into such a monstrous object. In fact, in 1939 Einstein published
a paper showing that a circulating mass of gas and dust will never condense into such a black hole. So although there was a wormhole lurking in the center of a black hole, he was confident that such a strange
object could never form by natural means. In fact, astrophysicist Arthur
Eddington once said that there should "be a law of nature to prevent a