- #1
mrspeedybob
- 869
- 65
From a distant frame of reference a falling object never reaches the event horizon due to time dilation. If I drop a meter stick into a black hole lengthwise I should see both ends of the stick getting asymptotically closer and closer but never reaching the horizon, thus the stick should appear to get shorter from my frame of reference. Assuming that the black hole is large enough that tidal forces are negligible then the stick should not experience anything abnormal, therefore I conclude that the shortening of the stick is a relativistic length contraction type of phenomena. This same logic should apply equally well to a stick of a kilometer or a light-year. If I can drop a stick of arbitrarily long length toward a black hole and never see the far end reach the event horizon can I not conclude that the distance from myself to the event horizon is longer then any arbitrarily long stick?