Q: If you could drill a tunnel through the whole planet and then jumped down this tunnel...

ask a mathematician dot com ^ | 4-2014 (orig 2012) | physicist

[doug from upland]

Way too funny. It was while trying to find the source of that clip that I stumbled upon this science question.

[Louis Foxwell]

No but an EENT man would help.

[USFRIENDINVICTORIA]

The tube, in the hole I drilled to tour the NAZI UFO collection, doesn’t have frictionless sides. I got around the Coriolis-effect problem by drilling along the rotational axis, from the North pole to the south pole. There’s still a bit of pull from the moon & the sun (like my own tidal forces); but, I get around that riding a skate board down the sides of the tube.

[doug from upland]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cGbEE-1hA2s - look at the 40 second mark.....several million degrees...BWAHAHAHAHA

Actual is now estimated at about 10,800 F

[Pete from Shawnee Mission]

Very exciting thread!

When I was in 5th grade I used to debate this with the 7th grade crossing guard. I think his name was Craig. We concluded:

A) It was not possible to bore a hole through the center of the earth, but!

B) For arguments sake, if you could, you would not be able to jump in and pop out the other side. Air resistance and friction would slow you down and you would come to rest at the gravitational center of the earth.

What we did not consider getting squished or heat vaporized by air pressure, but then we were still only in Grammar school.

[Hoodat]

I've seen this happen before. Algore is just as much an expert when it comes to earth science as was Heinrich Himmler with genetics. Neither should have been put in charge of national policy regarding topics in which they were unqualified.

Same leftists. Different topics.

[Oshkalaboomboom]

You would achieve enough momentum to carry you past the point of zero gravity (the center), so that you would "fall upward" for a ways. Then you would lose the momentum and fall back, with slightly less energy until you passed the center going the other way, then you would oscillate back and forth before eventually coming to a stop at the equilibrium point -- the center.

I've heard this answer before, also referencing the Chinaman's point of view which was seeing somebody falling UP out of a hole.

[USFRIENDINVICTORIA]

If the elevator was falling just fast enough to kill you, jumping up, just before impact, could save your life. It would reduce your velocity a bit, and that's all you would need to be falling just below lethal velocity. (Assuming that the elevator car doesn't break up, and impale you with parts.) Anyhow, if you ever find yourself in such a situation, what have you got to lose by trying. Just make sure it happens in a glass-bottom elevator -- so you can see when you're about to hit ground. (Then you just have to worry about being impaled by shards of glass.)

[TurboZamboni]

The BLM would be there waiting to say it was theirs.

[boop]

"You accelerate all the way to the center then begin to slow as you pass it. You slow to the apex right at the surface on the other side."

Yes, that's what our physics professor said in college. You'd (theoretically) oscillate from one end to the other.

[steve86]

This is the same as the “penny dropped from a skyscraper lands a millimeter to the side” in another comment, or not?

[doug from upland]

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Beck interviews Brian Whitman as Algore.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LkAh43KhONw

ANOTHER INTERVIEW: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HfB5sjMGTDw

[Fightin Whitey]

Hell, I thik we are living in Upsidasium now!

(btw isn’t that Boris Putin in middle??)

[Dick Bachert]

ROTFLMAO!
Doug,
Thanks for the fascinating dissertation on a question we’ve all asked at one time or another.

Wonder if the results would be the same if we dumped obozo into that tunnel?

My guess is that the earth would expel him via a spasm of projectile vomiting!

[jjotto]

I might regret asking, but...

Isn’t it likely that at some point the center of gravity relative to your location would pull you into the wall of the tube?

[EricT.]

Cool. I'd always assumed you'd slow down and rest at the center.

I once saw a heavy tool let loose into the bore of a powerful MRI magnet. Bearing in mind that the center of the magnetic field is in the very center of the bore, the tool shot through to the other end then came back, oscillating several times before coming to rest in the center. It was as frightening as it was cool to watch. BTW, the idiot who brought a magnetic tool into the room was kicked off the job.

[taterjay]

The globe really is warm!

[doug from upland]

Original JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH trailer

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WF8Bf1d_crk

[boop]

That reminds me of the scene in The Omen II where the scientist survives an elevator plunging to the ground.

But the falling cables cut the car (and him) in half.

Scary. Here's a nightmare for ya:

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x11gx3_damien-omen-ii_news

[doug from upland]

What is the Farthest any one has ever gone underground?
Any human to be specific :)
plz answer

Best Answer
Dan S answered 7 years ago
The Russians have gone over 4.8 miles down.
The project was first proposed in 1962 and was assigned to the Interdepartmental Scientific Council for the Study of the Earth’s Interior and Superdeep Drill. The Russians stopped drilling when it got too hot 180 °C (356 °F), but they expect to continue to a final depth of 1,500 meters with an expected temperature at 300 °C (572 °F).

The deepest any human being has gone down is 3,774 meters (1.48 miles) in South Africa.

According to Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mining#Reco...
“The deepest mine in the world: Savuka Mine in the North West Province, South Africa at 3,774 meters.

The deepest borehole in the world: Kola Superdeep Borehole at 12,262 meters (4.8157 miles). This, however, is not a matter of mining but rather related to scientific drilling.”

According to Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kola_Superd...
“The Kola Superdeep Borehole (KSDB) was the result of a scientific drilling project of the former USSR. The project attempted to drill as deep as possible into the Earth’s crust. Drilling began on May 24, 1970 on the Kola Peninsula, using an “Uralmash-4E” and later an “Uralmash-15000” drilling device. A number of boreholes were drilled by branching from a central hole. The deepest, SG-3, was completed in 1989, creating a hole 12,262 metres (7.6 mi) deep, the deepest hole ever made by humans...

It was decided to drill again from 7,000 metres (22,970 ft)[3]. The hole reached 12,262 metres (40,230 ft) deep in 1989. In that year the hole depth was expected to reach 13,500 metres (44,290 ft) by the end of 1990 and 15,000 metres (49,210 ft) by 1993. However, due to higher than expected temperatures at this depth and location, 180 °C (356 °F) instead of expected 100 °C (212 °F), drilling deeper was deemed infeasible and the drilling was stopped in 1992. With the expected further increase in temperature with increasing depth, drilling to 15,000 metres (49,210 ft) would have meant working at a projected 300 °C (572 °F), at which the drill bit would no longer work.”