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Equation 80 · A Horizon Is a Toll Booth, Not a Loophole

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ℓc6/(4G2M2)\ell c^6/(4G^2M^2)

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c6c^6

Symbol c^6

c6c^6 is a part of this expression. Its role is fixed by the surrounding article and by the operations shown in the formula.

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G2G^2

Symbol G^2

The square of G: multiply G by itself.

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M2M^2

Symbol M^2

The square of M: multiply M by itself.

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superscript

superscript

A raised number can be a power. When it is a label or bound, it selects a case or the upper limit of a sum; the formula’s structure distinguishes these uses.

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which at the horizon itself scales as ℓ\ell c6c^6/(4G2G^2M2M^2) — falling as the inverse square of the mass. For a processor of laboratory size ℓ\ell=1\,cm\mathrm{cm} at the horizon of a black hole with the mass measured for the progenitors of the first LIGO gravitational-wave detection, around 30\,M⊙M_\odot , this tidal stress is already about 1.1×\times10^5\,m s−2\mathrm{m\,s^{-2}} , on the order of ten thousand Earth gravities across a single centimeter — enough to disassemble ordinary hardware well before the horizon is reached [ 16 ] . For the Sagittarius A* mass used above, the same formula gives roughly 6×\times10^{-6}\,m s−2\mathrm{m\,s^{-2}} across the same centimeter: negligible, and consistent with the…
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which at the horizon itself scales as ℓ\ell c6c^6/(4G2G^2M2M^2) — falling as the inverse square of the mass. For a processor of laboratory size ℓ\ell=1\,cm\mathrm{cm} at the horizon of a black hole with the mass measured for the progenitors of the first LIGO gravitational-wave detection, around 30\,M⊙M_\odot , this tidal stress is already about 1.1×\times10^5\,m s−2\mathrm{m\,s^{-2}} , on the order of ten thousand Earth gravities across a single centimeter — enough to disassemble ordinary hardware well before the horizon is reached [ 16 ] . For the Sagittarius A* mass used above, the same formula gives roughly 6×\times10^{-6}\,m s−2\mathrm{m\,s^{-2}} across the same centimeter: negligible, and consistent with the free-fall approximation actually holding at the horizon of a sufficiently large hole [ 14 ] . “Free fall is locally ordinary” is therefore not a universal statement about black holes; it is a statement whose validity is bounded, by real astrophysical data, to holes massive enough that the tidal term stays small over the processor’s own size — a condition satisfied at Sagittarius A*'s horizon and badly violated at a stellar-mass horizon of the kind LIGO has actually detected.

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