If you imagine yourself at the center of the earth your are floating since the pull is the same around you. But let us say you could turn up the gravity as much as you want. Why aren’t you pulled apart? The net forces are zero, sure. But wouldn’t the body experience tension?

Question

If we compare it to a rope pulled by two equal forces in each end. The net forces would be zero and you would have static equilibrium, but the rope would still break if pulled hard enough.

Additionally, wouldn’t a metal ball uniformly surrounded by powerful magnets be pulled apart as well?

I am not sure why I can’t wrap my head around this, when it comes to the center of the earth.

In: 83

Answer 1

The force gradient is important. Most of the gravity is being cancelled out molecule by molecule.your body parts and being pulled evenly.

It’s believed that a smaller black hole would stretch and pull you apart because your feet would be getting pulled much harder that your knees and the other parts of your body. But then a significantly larger black hole could have a smoother transition where you would barely notice crossing the event horizon because while it’s pulling hard on you the different parts of you are being pulled just as hard.