Is it possible to dig your way to the ground to the other side of the Earth?

The surface of Earth is constantly spinning at more than 1,000 miles per hour. If you go deeper into the Earth, it’s still moving all around you, but the mass inside doesn’t have as far to travel. The only way to make it work, would be to dig the hole straight through Earth’s poles.

Is it possible to make a hole through the Earth?

First, let us state the obvious: You can’t drill a hole through the center of the Earth. To date, the deepest hole is the Kola Superdeep Borehole. Drilling started in the 1970s and finished some 20 years later when the team reached 40,230 feet (12,262 meters). That is about 7.5 miles, or just over 12 km.

What would happen if we drilled to the earth’s core?

Your ‘down’ trip would have gravity increasing your speed every second as you are pulled towards the core, propelling your way through Earth until you reached the center. Once there, gravity would begin acting as a buffer against you, making your ‘up’ trip increasingly slower.

Why is the Center of the earth hot?

There are three main sources of heat in the deep earth: (1) heat from when the planet formed and accreted, which has not yet been lost; (2) frictional heating, caused by denser core material sinking to the center of the planet; and (3) heat from the decay of radioactive elements.

What happens when a falling person pops out of a hole?

Ignoring air drag and the terrific sonic boom that would accompany such an orbit, suppose it passed overhead just above the falling person as they popped up out of the hole. The period of such an orbit would be such that it would be passing overhead every time the oscillating person popped up on either side of the Earth.

What is the speed of the Earth’s horizontal oscillation?

After all, your initial horizontal speed is nominally 465 m/s relative to the center, using an equatorial radius, so that gives a fairly rapid oscillation back and forth between the walls of our idealized well as you approach the center.

How does Hooke’s law relate to trans-Earth travel?

On mass inside the shell Taking positive r as outward from the center of the Earth: This is the same form as Hooke’s Lawfor a mass on a spring. It would cause the trans-Earth traveler to oscillate back and forth through the center of the Earth like a mass bobbing up and down on a spring.

Can a satellite be put in orbit around the Earth?

As a further feature of this fanciful journey, suppose a satellite could be put in a circular orbitabout the Earth right above the surface. Ignoring air drag and the terrific sonic boom that would accompany such an orbit, suppose it passed overhead just above the falling person as they popped up out of the hole.