What is spaghettification?

Spaghettification is when something gets stretched out into long, thin strands, like spaghetti!

Imagine you're on a really fast roller coaster, and you're holding a bunch of playdough in your hand. As the roller coaster goes around a big loop, the playdough starts to stretch and pull apart because one end is moving faster than the other. That’s kind of what happens with spaghettification, but instead of a roller coaster, it's the super strong gravity from something like a black hole.

When you're close to a black hole, its gravity pulls harder on your feet than on your head. This difference in pull is called tidal force, and it stretches you out, just like that playdough getting pulled into long, thin strands.

If the black hole was big enough, maybe you wouldn’t get completely stretched apart, but if it’s small, you’d be turned into a long noodle of person! That's why scientists call this process spaghettification.