Just out of curiosity, what would happen if we dig to the center of the earth? Would we release the gravity? or would we cause a panic of the world b/c we released vegetarian Zombies?
It's late, and I have insomnia, so anything I say makes sense to me. But hey! It's just a passing thought. Now excuse me, but I need to spread some joy to the coat rack...
my left brain convinced my hand that reptilian mammals exist
Coius, you reminded me of a question I once pondered: If you were to dig a tunnel clear through the center of the Earth, and you were to jump into the tunnel at one end, what would happen?
Would you fall all the way through to the other end of the Earth? Would gravity trap you at the Earth's core?
I don't know what would happen, but I expect that you'd be so badly burned and in so much agony that you'd probably not care to learn the answer.
Besides, it is not physically possible for mere mortals to tunnel through the center of the Earth anyway. Still makes for a curious conundrum though.
If said tunnel was completely frictionless then you'd plummit through the center of the earth, come up the other side of the tunnel to exactly the same distance from the earth's center of gravity as you jumped from, stop, and fall back down again. In theory you'd oscillate back and forth forever, as in essence, you'd be in a linear "orbit" of the earth's core.
(Somewhere in the universe there's an asteroid with a hole through it that has a pebble bouncing back and forth through it, demonstrating this principle. You're not going to see it on a planetary scale, for obvious reasons.)
However, since in all likelyhood this tunnel is going to have air in it to sustain your screaming you're going to lose energy to friction, and thus not make it all the way back up to the surface on the other side. Then of course you'll continue to lose momentum on your trips back and forth until eventually you'd stabilize at the middle, where oddly enough you'd experience zero-G conditions. In addition to the horrible searing pain, of course. (Assuming you'd made it there at all, rather then evaporating somewhere around the upper mantle on the way down your first trip.)
--Peace
I think the distance oscillated would get smaller each time...
also, the earth spins (and orbits!) so that would most definitly make the "rider" plummet into the edges.
also, even if you drilled through, where would all of that "core sample" go?
also, even if you drilled through, the sides would come together because of the liquid properties, which would drown the drill
Core sample? What core sample? The question is theoretical; it is physically impossible to drill through the centre of the Earth.
Considering that the earth's core spin faster at the center at the earth (earths core spins 1.5 extra revolutions every 2 million years IIRC from the news report), I wouldn't expect to be coming out facing north if you were faced south (think about it, I'm not going to explain it :P) Also, don't expect to be coming out on your head. heck, I wouldn't expect be coming out long way up.
just some fuel for the fire
yeah, yeah, whatever. and if a frog had wings, he would not bump his @$$ everytime he hopped.
did I mention that i can put my whole fist in my mouth?
If a frog had wings? I love it... If a frog had wings, there'd be no way out of this mess... Fortunately, frogs do not have wings.
Do you have pics of your entire fist in your mouth? After all, good science requires evidence.
(sniggers whilst trying to keep a straight face)
common deceny (sniggers again) prevents me from posting such deviance on the web.
(sniggerring as beer foams out of nose)
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