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by game masta on September 9th, 2006

game masta

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If a tunnel was dug through the middle of the Earth from top to bottom and a person was to jump in the hole what would happen to that person?

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  • by PerpetualAFK on March 3rd, 2007

    PerpetualAFK

    There is one interesting fact about this proposition. The time of the trip from one end of the tunnel to the other end is the same, no matter where the two ends of the tunner are located on the earth's surface. If one end was on the equator, and the other end was at the north pole, the length of the trip is the exact same as if the other end was also on the equation, on the other side of the earth. This can be proven using classical mechanics. The length of the trip is approximately 87 minutes, disregarding friction. This time is, not coincidentally, also the time for an orbit of earth.

    Comments

    • bodacious.

      singwell-is off researching a lot

      by singwell-is off researching a lot on March 8th, 2007

    • Uhh... the way you've stated it, either he has to make a right-angle turn in the center, or else you're asserting that a chord of a sphere is as long as the diameter. What exactly do you mean?

      Roger Kovaciny

      by Roger Kovaciny on March 8th, 2007

    • I mean that the time it takes to traverse a chord in a sphere is the same, no matter where the two ends of the chord are located. True, the chords are of different length, but because gravity is a central force, and pulls toward the center of the earth, it can and has been proven that the time to traverse any chord is the same. The proof is not hard, and I can show you if you are interested.

      Anonymous

      by Anonymous on March 21st, 2007

    • The times would be different from the fall time from a pole tunnel to an equator tunnel surely?

      This would be due to the Earth actually being oblate from its rotation. This translates to the equator being about 21 kilometres further away from the centre of the earth than the poles are to the centre.

      This I'm working on the assumption that the density does change so this increase of mass in one direction translates to an increase in initial gravity. I haven't worked it out properly though admittedly

      Carnivalius

      by Carnivalius on July 8th, 2007

    • Whoops I meant "density doesn't change". That's an error.

      Carnivalius

      by Carnivalius on July 8th, 2007

    • Carnivalius I agree totally with you. However, I was using the assumption that the earth was a perfect sphere.

      PerpetualAFK

      by PerpetualAFK on July 8th, 2007

    • Oh no I think you might be right even with the adjustment for oblateness thinking about it. The higher gravity would accelerate you faster so you'd cover more ground faster, so the two might cancel out.

      Carnivalius

      by Carnivalius on July 8th, 2007

    • Just read someone elses answer and thought I should point out that the air pressure would increase as you went down increasing the drag. He says the centre would be 100 atmospheres. So you'd be dead for a while before you got there in those 87 minutes. Why I didn't think of that I'll never know as its so obvious *hangs head in shame*

      Carnivalius

      by Carnivalius on July 8th, 2007

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