by zero » Wed Apr 15, 2009 3:20 am
This is due to tidal forces affecting a mass of some size. Since light is without mass or size, there should be such effect on it.
Furthermore, for a sufficiently massive black hole, the tidal forces near the event horizon are negligible. So there would be no ripping apart upon entering it (by which I assume you mean crossing the event horizon) in such a case. "Ripping apart" entering material is not a universal property of black holes in general.