ANSWERS: 6
  • It would fall down towards the centre of the earth. It would pass by the centre (due to its large velocity) then would start to slow down. It would slow down to a stop, go back towards the centre and go past again, but a little less than before. This would continue until the object finally came to rest after many passes past the centre, each one slightly less than the last, hovering where the centre of the earth would have been. --> --> --> --> --> O --> --> --> --> <-- <-- <-- O <-- <-- <-- <-- --> --> --> O --> --> <-- O <-- <-- --> O Here, the O is the centre of the earth, and the object moves past and back again.
  • Godfather is broadly correct. One minor detail is that it would not drop down the centre, it would roll against one side wall because of Coriolis forces, and on the return it would roll against the other side wall.
  • In high school, I remember my calculus (and physics and algebra) teacher remarking that the object would take 87 minutes to fall from end to end, and it would continue "falling" past the center of the earth to the opposite end forever. I suppose the time mentioned would vary because the earth isn't a perfect circle, so it would depend where you drilled the hole.
  • You would be without the item you dropped, for ever.
  • Fun question, I guess it would keep accelerating to the center and then start deaccellerating. Eventually become a pendulum until the momentum diminishes and then get stuck in the center of the earth!
  • 9-10-2017 That is an interesting question because it is so easy to calculate an answer, and any answer you calculate is almost certainly wrong. You tend to assume that gravitation is constant, and it's not. When you drop your little whizbanger into the hole, gravitation depends mostly on the composition of dirt and rocks at the surface. A little farther down might have a different composition, and the gravitation will change. When you get some distance down, gravitation comes from all sides and also above and below, and when you get to the center of the planet, gravitation is from all directions so it neutralizes. This was pointed out by Isaac Newton . Another problem is that the Earth and the object are moving 1,000 mph eastward at the equator, and some lesser speed any place else, and zero at the center of the planet. So the ball (we hope it's a ball) will roll down the eastward side of the tunnel, and the pull of gravity drops all the time. Maybe it will get all the way to the center of the planet, and maybe not.

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