If there was a giant hole through the Earth...

Ok lets say that the Earth (or some other large solid planet) had a solid core, and we drilled a great big hole from one side of the Earth, through the centre, and out the opposite side. What would happen if you jumped down this hole?--92.251.136.245 (talk) 22:20, 28 March 2010 (UTC)

There have been many discussions of this in the past - and the consensus is that outcome depends entirely on the assumptions you make.
From most realistic assumptions to least:
  1. The hole would fill up with molten lava and other materials faster than you could dig it. So you can't construct such a hole.
  2. In order to prevent this collapse, we'd have to line the tunnel with something - but there is no material we have that could survive the temperatures and pressures involved.
  3. Even if we imagine such an 'unobtainium' material to make a liner with, the hole would fill up with air. At the pressures you'd get towards the center of the hole, the air would liquify and block the hole that way.
  4. So you'd jump in and as the air density increases towards the center of the earth, then either:
    • You'd be crushed by the pressure.
    • If you wore some kind of pressure-resistant suit then you'd eventually float like a balloon at some distance before you got to the center.
    • If you put enough weights onto the suit then you'd slowly sink to the bottom of the liquified air and arrive at the center of the earth - where you'd feel no gravity at all.
  5. If you could pump the air out to make a nice hard vacuum throughout the hole - then you'd obviously suffocate on the way down...so you need to wear a space-suit.
  6. If you get rid of all of these annoying issues, then you'd still be bouncing off the sides of the hole all the way down due to coriolis forces - so the friction would slow you down to an eventual stop at the center of the earth - where you'd float freely and feel no gravity.
  7. To solve that problem, we'd have to drill through the axis of rotation (ie from pole to pole).
  8. With only gravity acting on you, you'd have to enter the hole at a very precise vertical angle to avoid hitting the sides on the way down.
  9. Assuming you get around ALL of those issues, then there is no friction in the hole - so what would happen is this:
    • In your spacesuit, you jump into the hole at the North Pole. Since you are falling, you feel no gravity from the instant your feet leave the ground - you fall all the way towards the center of the earth, getting faster and faster - so fast in fact that you overshoot the center and start to slow down. You finally stop just as your head pops up above the surface at the south pole - then you fall all the way back again, through the center and back out to the North Pole. This happens over and over again until someone or something intervenes to helps you out!
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Postat av: ChillJohan

Ey fett intressant! har också undrat fett länge vad som händer, cool tatt du tog reda på det! :D

2011-01-16 @ 20:49:42
URL: http://johandenlille.blogg.se/

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