Would you fall all the way through a hole in the earth?

Would you fall all the way through a hole in the earth? - Printable Version

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Would you fall all the way through a hole in the earth? - mrlayance - 04-26-2003

Mark Shegelski, an associate professor of physics at the University of Northern British Columbia, explains.

The simple answer is, theoretically, yes. First, let us ignore friction, the rotation of the earth, and other complications, and focus on the case of a hole or tunnel entering the earth at one point, going straight through its center, and coming back to the surface at the opposite side of the planet. If we treat the mass distribution in the earth as uniform, one would fall into the tunnel and then come back up to the surface on the other side in a manner much like the motion of a pendulum swinging down and up again. Assuming that the journey began with zero initial speed (simply dropping into the hole), your speed would increase and reach a maximum at the center of the earth, and then decrease until you reached the surface, at which point the speed would again be zero. The gravitational force exerted on the traveler would be proportional to his distance from the center of the earth: it's at a maximum at the surface and zero at the center. The total time required for this trip would be about 42 minutes. If there were no friction, there would be no energy loss so our traveler could oscillate into and out of the tunnel.

Cool huh!

- ron - 04-26-2003

damn my head hurts after reading that

- prz - 04-26-2003

Science is not my bag....

- mrlayance - 04-26-2003

My question is would you come out on the other side head first or feet first?
:lol:

- Beat - 04-27-2003

Depends on if you fall or dive Wink

- mrlayance - 04-27-2003

Beat Wrote:Depends on if you fall or dive

Not really, because when you hit the middle the gravity will either crush you or turn you inside out. Something like that.

- CanuckCourage - 04-27-2003

Lance Wrote:
Beat Wrote:Depends on if you fall or dive
Not really, because when you hit the middle the gravity will either crush you or turn you inside out. Something like that.

Actually Lance , if I'm reading that article correctly , the gravity at the centre of the Earth would be Zero . (If you stopped there , I imagine you'd be suspended in mid air , like space. ). Basically the momentum attained from falling would carry through the centre and to the surface . The further away from the centre , the stronger the gravitational pull . Theoretically , after passing the centre of the earth the gravitational pull would gradually increase to the maximum , which would be at the suface of the earth and therefore slow you down to a complete stop when you surfaced at the other end . ( Ignoring of course friction and everything else outlined by Mark Shegelski.)

- sherpahigh - 04-27-2003

Too bad about all that liquid hot magma in there. :wink:

- CanuckCourage - 04-28-2003

That's where the Super Kryptonite Pipe comes in . Nullifying the effects of Red Hot Magma . ( In my best Dr. Evil voice . ) :lol: