that pete thread actually made me think (SHOCKING)

[losCHUNK]

if we drilled a hole straight through the earth and you fell in it, what would happen, would you go so quick that you come hurdling out the otherside and into space, or would you get to the middle and stop dead or would you just bob back and fore either side till you eventually stopped ?

[SplishSplash]

The hole would collapse because of gravity.

But if it was stable enough, I think the bobbing thing would apply.

[Foo]

Assuming the liquid magma and core problems were overcome? You would still be crushed by the earth's gravity at the centre of the earth.

Also apparently there are petting zoos and stuff down there. You know, for the kids.

[Freakaloin]

yeah pressure would do u in...

[losCHUNK]

ahhhhh

but what if you wore a super dooper suite which was all like HELL YEAH IM HARDCORE AND I CAN TAKE ANYTHING THATS THROWN AT ME

[bork[e]]

ahhhhh

but what if you wore a super dooper suite which was all like HELL YEAH IM HARDCORE AND I CAN TAKE ANYTHING THATS THROWN AT ME

Then I guess YOU CAN TAKE ANYTHING THATS TRHOWN AT YOU no?

[Fender]

Assuming the liquid magma and core problems were overcome? You would still be crushed by the earth's gravity at the centre of the earth.

Actually, at the center gravity is zero.

[[xeno]Julios]

Assuming the liquid magma and core problems were overcome? You would still be crushed by the earth's gravity at the centre of the earth.

the gravity is essentially zero at the centre of the earth - you'd be pulled away from the centre in all directions, resulting in a net force of zero (since all the force cancels out).

[Fender]

too slow

[[xeno]Julios]

fuck me!

[GONNAFISTYA]

If you dropped a bowling ball down into the hole it would fall straight through the earth, slow down at the same height you dropped it (but on the other side of the planet), fall back and do this forever....providing there's a vacuum.

[R00k]

if you got rid of the messy molten rock and extremely high temperatures and other obstacles, i imagine you would fly straight through to the other side, then come right back, each trip getting shorter and shorter until you eventually stopped dead right in the center. that's assuming you took a perfectly straight line to the exact center of gravity.

[Eraser]

fuck me!

no thank you

[R00k]

If you dropped a bowling ball down into the hole it would fall straight through the earth, slow down at the same height you dropped it (but on the other side of the planet), fall back and do this forever.

maybe in a vacuum?

[Foo]

Assuming the liquid magma and core problems were overcome? You would still be crushed by the earth's gravity at the centre of the earth.

the gravity is essentially zero at the centre of the earth - you'd be pulled away from the centre in all directions, resulting in a net force of zero (since all the force cancels out).

Yeah, you're right.

In part.

Now I think on it, the gravitational pull tugging you apart would be many times greater than the gravitational pull you experience on the surface, since you're surrounded in all possible directions by mass as opposed to when you're on the surface, where you have about 1 out of 6 general directions in which mass is present.

So you'd be killed by the forces ripping you apart.

[[xeno]Julios]

it's impossible to do that - your anus would continually scrape against the side of the rock as you're falling down, causing so much pain that you'd swallow your tongue and die.

So it wouldn't be you that goes up and down forever, it would just be the body that was you.

[Fender]

You'd probably want to drill down the axis of rotation as well. If you didn't, the ball would bang against the side of the tunnel as it fell because the linear feet moved per degree of angular motion decreases as you get closer to the center. The ball's inertia would keep it going straight, which would cause it to hit the walls of the tunnel.

[Fender]

dammit, this time I was too slow

[GONNAFISTYA]

I scrape the sides and bottom out all the time.

[Fender]

Yeah, you're right.

In part.

Now I think on it, the gravitational pull tugging you apart would be many times greater than the gravitational pull you experience on the surface, since you're surrounded in all possible directions by mass as opposed to when you're on the surface, where you have about 1 out of 6 general directions in which mass is present.

So you'd be killed by the forces ripping you apart.

Wrong.

Found a post that basically says what I/R00k already did:
Posted by Ron Morgan
Position: Staff, Health Physics/Radiological Engineering, Los Alamos National Laboratory
http://128.252.223.112/cgi-bin/circR?/p ... .Es.r.html

Good first guess. At least, I THINK good first guess, but I wasn't able to find a reference for what I'm about to tell you, so please take it with a grain of salt (I guess I'm "normal," because my memory gets shorter as my lifespan get longer).

Imagine a hollow tube, or straw, that is "stuck" completely through the Earth (through the center of gravity), so that both ends are open, and both ends are at the surface (on opposite sides of the Earth). The tube is a bit larger than a baseball.

Now, imagine dropping a baseball down one end of the tube. Gravity will certainly make the baseball fall down the tube (ever dropped a rock down a well?)...but how far?

Actually, in the absence of air friction or friction of the walls of the tube, the baseball will "fall" all the way through the Earth and just to the surface on the other side, before it begins to 'fall' back to the point of origin. With some small amount of friction, the ball will oscillate with decreasing magnitude until it finally stops (hanging motionless) at the center of gravity (presumably the center of the Earth). The baseball acts just as your body would, if the tube (tunnel?) was big enough for you to crawl into.

This is because gravity is greatest at (or near) the SURFACE of the Earth. As you approach the center of the Earth from the surface, mass "behind" you acts to pull you away from the center.

This explanation ignores the rotation of the Earth. If the tube wasn't stuck directly through the (rotational) poles, the ball would tend to roll down (up?) one edge of the tube.

Good thought experiment. Ron

[[xeno]Julios]

Assuming the liquid magma and core problems were overcome? You would still be crushed by the earth's gravity at the centre of the earth.

the gravity is essentially zero at the centre of the earth - you'd be pulled away from the centre in all directions, resulting in a net force of zero (since all the force cancels out).

Yeah, you're right.

In part.

Now I think on it, the gravitational pull tugging you apart would be many times greater than the gravitational pull you experience on the surface, since you're surrounded in all possible directions by mass as opposed to when you're on the surface, where you have about 1 out of 6 general directions in which mass is present.

So you'd be killed by the forces ripping you apart.

1)Gravitational force upon a body is a function of the relative masses of the two bodies (person and earth) combined with the distance between their centres. Therefore, the gravitational pull in any given direction is actually half of that experienced from the surface.


2) The metaphor you are invoking when you talk about gravity ripping you apart is false. If you had two horses pulling you with rope from opposite ends of your body, yes you'd be ripped apart. This is because the force of the ropes is applied directly to only certain parts of your body, whereas the force of gravity affects each atom in your body. If you attached two sets of ropes to each particle of your body, pulling in opposite directions, then you would not experience stress (assuming that the ropes were connected to particles that cannot experience stress in the same way that flesh can). But I think even this explanation is lacking in theoretical precision - just understand that the force of gravity is fundamentally different from the force experienced by rope pulling.

3) Why are there only 6 general directions? There are an infinite number of directions. Natural forces do not discriminate based on human normative conceptions.

[[xeno]Julios]

dammit, this time I was too slow

ahah - i wasn't even thinking about axis of rotation - i was just being foolish

[Foo]

3) Why are there only 6 general directions? There are an infinite number of directions. Natural forces do not discriminate based on human normative conceptions.

*sigh* this was a simplification relative to the 'norm', which sees the earths mass present on only one side of an imaginary cube around a person.

Purely for illustrative purposes.

Your needless use of complex terminoligy I find to be so utterly juvenile that this discussion ceases to be entertaining.

For that reason, I'm not even tackling the rest.

[werldhed]

I've got a question about the oscillation thing...

Since we're talking about the earth, and the laws of friction apply, wouldn't terminal velocity prevent the ball from returning almost all the way to the opposite side of the planet? That is to say, the speed that the ball is traveling when it passes the center of the earth can't possibly be enough to make it all the way back to the surface on the other side. Right?
So won't the oscillation be uneven? Wouldn't it only travel a short distance past the core before turning around again?

[tnf]

If you dropped a bowling ball down into the hole it would fall straight through the earth, slow down at the same height you dropped it (but on the other side of the planet), fall back and do this forever....providing there's a vacuum.

This is correct sir.