Digging a hole straight through the earth is a very popular thought experiment. It can teach people about so many properties of our planet and some really cool physics. But the process of digging such a hole is impossible. It’s not just because the interior of our world passes through layers of molten and liquid before meeting a solid inner core. Even if a planet or moon were entirely solid, it would be impossible to penetrate the pressure experienced by the deeper layers.
But we are armed with sophisticated thinking technology and are digging holes. Approximately 12,756 kilometers (7,926 miles) of beautiful holes have been completed. As I was about to cut the ribbon to celebrate the completion of this project, you ran in front of me and jumped in, shouting “Cannonball!” A lonely tear rolls down my cheek. You just jumped to your death.
I like it hot
Our hole through the earth is a death trap for many reasons. The first thing that kills you is temperature. If you’ve ever been to a mine, you may have noticed that mines are hot. The Kola ultra-deep well is the deepest ever drilled by humans, reaching a depth of just over 12 kilometers (7.5 miles), or about 0.1 percent of the length of the imaginary hole.
The reason for stopping drilling was the temperature. After descending just 12 kilometers, the temperature at the bottom of the hole reached 180°C (356°F). Scientists working on this project did not expect such values. It was much higher than the model estimated.
If it’s any consolation, it doesn’t take long.A journey through a hole across our planet takes an estimated time 38 minutes 11 seconds. You’ll be burned much faster than you get to the other side.
under pressure
Grieving your loss, I turned on the time reversal machine (another invention patented in Thought Space) before you jumped. I will explain what happened in the alternate timeline and ask you to wear a heat resistant suit, but please do not disturb my ceremony. I went to cut the ribbon again and you barged in and jumped in. Even though the suit protects you, you know you’re going to die again.
The killer this time is pressure. You will be crushed by the sudden increase in pressure. At sea level, you are experiencing air that is several tens of kilometers above sea level. You can travel thousands of miles in a hole.This is what the air looks like there’s a lot of pressure It was then compressed to undergo a phase transition and likely become a superfluid. And you become part of the mix.
death rattle
Once again, time reversal comes into play. When I explain the situation, you realize that if the pressure were to get this high, it would probably eject all the air from the surface of the Earth and kill off most life forms, including all 8 billion of us on Earth. Point out. Sorry for pointing this out, but I’ll go back to the design stage and make sure the holes are under vacuum.
You are now slowly lowering yourself into the airlock. You can dive safely from temperature and pressure. and you die. Okay, this is my responsibility. This design has a hole from the outside of the house to the other side of the world, providing the rotational acceleration felt when leaving the house due to the Earth’s rotation. However, when you move into the interior of the earth, you end up drifting inside the walls. At high speed. So you end up hitting the wall faster and faster, like a ragdoll. That would hurt.
I had a good run
The solution is to create a hole through the Earth’s axis of rotation. By relocating it there, it was now possible to safely jump from the North Pole and arrive at the South Pole 38 minutes and 11 seconds later.
There is no perfect vacuum, so you can still die. So if you have a little bit of air, you might slow down halfway through and lose the momentum you need to stick your body into the airlock on the other side. This may be fixed by pushing harder from the beginning.
Well, that depends on whether you’ll forgive me for pointing out the dark and apocalyptic nature of my thought experiment.