What would you experience if you jumped into a black hole?
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Conventionally, physicists have assumed that if the black hole is large enough, the gravitational forces won't become extreme until you approach the singularity. There, the gravitational pull will be so much stronger on your feet than your head, that you will be 'spaghettified'. Now, a new theory proposes that instead of spaghettification, you will encounter a massive wall of fire that will incinerate you on the spot, before you get close to turning into vermicelli.

In this special Ri event, science writer Jennifer Ouellette and physicist Sean Carroll explore the black hole firewall paradox, the exotic physics that underlies the new theory and what the paradox tells us about how new scientific theories are proposed, tested and accepted.

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