Why Didn’t Cooper Get Spaghettified When He Fell Into the Black Hole in Interstellar?

In the Interstellar movie, Cooper's experience with the black hole Gargantua raises questions about the physics of black holes, particularly the phenomenon known as spaghettification. While the black hole's immense size in Interstellar meant that Cooper was able to cross the event horizon without experiencing spaghettification, there are other reasons why his fall didn't cause him to be stretched along his vertical axis:

Event Horizon Crossing

Cooper falls into the black hole through a wormhole and reaches the event horizon. In the portrayal of Interstellar, the event horizon is shown to be less of a hazardous boundary due to the influence of time dilation and the nature of the black hole. This allows Cooper to cross the event horizon without experiencing the immediate spaghettification that would typically occur.

Tidal Forces

Gargantua is depicted as a spinning or rotating black hole. The tidal forces in a rotating black hole can be less intense at the event horizon compared to a non-rotating black hole. This suggests that if Cooper were to fall into a sufficiently large and rotating black hole, he might experience less extreme stretching forces compared to a smaller or non-rotating one.

Narrative Device

From a storytelling perspective, Cooper's journey into the black hole serves as a way to explore themes of love, sacrifice, and the survival of humanity. Rather than strictly adhering to the scientific realities of black hole physics, the film uses creative liberties to explore these thematic elements.

The Tesseract

Inside the black hole, Cooper finds himself in a tesseract, a construct that allows him to perceive and interact with time as a physical dimension. This aspect of the plot emphasizes the theoretical and speculative nature of the film's interpretation of black holes.

Conclusion

While spaghettification is a real phenomenon associated with black holes, the film uses creative liberties to explore its themes and narrative. This allows Cooper to survive his fall into Gargantua, adding to the emotional and dramatic impact of the movie.

Are You Looking for the Film Justification or a Science-Based Answer?

Film Justification

Cooper's survival and his interactions with the black hole provide greater dramatic impact and serve the thematic elements of the film. If he were to be ripped apart, it wouldn't have been very interesting.

Science-Based Explanation

Several key factors come into play with black holes, including the raw mathematics and the concept of singularities. From a scientific perspective, the star never actually reaches singularity because the increase in gravity is halted by time stopping at the Schwarzschild radius. This makes time dilation a more significant issue than spaghettification.