THE WALL OF DEATH

Much to everybody's surprise, it was recently demonstrated that according to Einstein's general theory of relativity, very close to a compact star or a black hole the centrifugal force may attract towards the center of a circular motion. We show here that Newtonian theory predicts exactly the same effect, and that the geometrical reason for it is identical in both theories. The centrifugal force always repels in the local outward direction. However, in a curved space (or on a curved surface) in which the perimeter of concentric circles decreases with the increasing diameter, the local outward direction points towards the global center of the circles, and thus the centrifugal force attracts to the center.