ASTRO-Tucson Activities
Spagettification—Gravity Activity
No person has ever been close enough to a black hole to actually fall into one, but if a person ever got close enough, their body would stretch out as they were pulled into the black hole. In this activity you will make a spaghettification flip book that will demonstrate how the strong gravitational pull of a black hole would stretch any astronaut unlucky enough to encounter one in space. Spaghettification is the stretching of objects that fall into a black hole. It is called spaghettification because small objects will grow long and stringy like spaghetti as they are pulled into the black hole.
Gravity is what causes spaghettification. The force of gravity depends on three things, the mass of one object, the mass of another object and the distance between them. The closer the two objects are the stronger the force of gravity. So if this imaginary astronaut is falling feet first towards a black hole, his feet are closer to the center of the black hole than his head. The force of gravity is therefore stronger on his feet than on his head. The difference in pull creates what is called a tidal force. This makes the astronaut (or anything else that gets too close) stretch out long and thin. The tides on Earth are caused by the tidal forces created by the Moon.
Materials
- A pair of scissors (If you need help with scissors, ask a parent or guardian)
- A stapler and staples
- Spaghettification Flip Book picture page, found below
- Colored Pencils
- Ruler
Instructions
- Print out the image below with the pictures of the astronaut on it.
- Color the astronaut pictures.
- Carefully cut out the 8 images of the astronaut.
- Put the images in a stack, with #1 on top, then #2, then #3, and so on…
- Staple the pictures together using the small lines in picture #1 as a guide.
- Flip sheets from back to front. The spaceman should appear to stretch
Credits
Adler Planetarium & Astronomy Museum Education Department, 2000.
