[mrlayance]

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]

damn my head hurts after reading that

[prz]

Science is not my bag....

[mrlayance]

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

[Beat]

Depends on if you fall or dive

[mrlayance]

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]

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]

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

[CanuckCourage]

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