Post Your Answer
6 months ago in Astrophysics By Lily
Why does the schwarzschild metric give a weird distance for the radius?
In the Schwarzschild metric, the circumference around a black hole is 2πr, but the actual measured distance from the horizon to the center is more than r. How can a circle have a normal circumference but a stretched radius?
All Answers (1 Answers In All)
By Raghu Answered 1 month ago
You've put your finger on the essence of curvature. The key: coordinates are just labels, not tape measures. The circumference is defined using the angular part of the metric, which stays Euclidean. But the radial part is warped by gravity g?? > 1. So when you integrate the proper distance along the radius, you get a longer path than the coordinate difference suggests. The geometry isn't flat. That's not a paradox; it's the definition of curved space.
Reply to Raghu
Related Questions