Is the Hollow Earth theory possible?

Question

To start, I do not believe our world is hollow. My question is is it possible according to science, to have a hollow planet where you have life living on the outside and inside, and where the center is an energy source such as a star. I am not talking about a Dyson sphere, which is artificial, I am talking about something like this occuring "naturally" in space.

Answer 1

Would you think that a solid core of iron with molten iron around it would be more possible?

As the mass overwhelmed the vacuum, pieces of the vacuum remained floating in the mass. Some of the remnants were surrounded by so much matter that as the piece of vacuum drew the matter towards it the matter became a mass more and more compressed until the mass prevented its self from being pulled into the vacuum. As the mass compressed more, it began to compress the vacuum, causing more vacuum force resulting in explosions as the mass compressed more resulting in such extreme heat that fission occurred in atoms like iron. Eventually, the vacuum could be compressed no more and the heat and fission continued but was stabilized. Enough mass had been collected to allow the vacuum, heat, and fission to be contained in a cool surface shell. As the nuclear explosions continue, freed particles will be allowed to enter the vacuum, eventually filling it. Compression will cease, gravity will stop, and the earth's own compression will blow it apart.

The vacuum at the center of the earth is the same as a vacuum at the center of a star. There is no life there.

Answer 2

It's unlikely in a planet sized body.

During formation the gravitational pull would tend to collapse the outer crust into the hollow space below.

Of course, it's possible that large pockets (caves) might form after the original planet was 'set'.

To create a truly hollow planet would require that the liquid core be 'evaporated' thru the crust and into the atmosphere or space.

That might leave a hard crust with an inner space at the center. However, the physics of that possibility escapes me. The interior would then not have enough energy to support life. Gravity would also tend to pull anything loose on the inside toward the center.

Yet, if the Oort cloud were solid. Would that not be a body with a sun at the center and life between the 'crust' and the sun? However, a 2 light-year wide body would hardly be considered a planet under today's definition.

Answer 3

With Earth, absolutely not....but....

As was previously mentioned, planet formation is an accumlation of material. So it will be solid. However, some people have speculated that the Earth has a very dense core of potentially Uranium, which, being the heavier of elements would naturally work it's way to the center.

But if the available elements were limited to a set that have various reactions, I suppose you could have a core react with those other elements, creating a gas. If this happened enough times, perhaps the core would shrink and the gas could act as a pressurized buffer. (example, sodium reacting with water)

So if you were looking for writing a sci-fi book, I guess you could have a core of radioactive material that was surrounded by this other reactionary element that creates the gaseous environment and the radioactive element provides the heat, and the atomosphere is renewed by the reaction between the other elements.

I'm sure with considerable more time I could come up with a much better scenerio...but it's a start.

Answer 4

Nope. It has to do with out planets are formed. A small nucleus of matter binds together and builds, forming an ever greater center of mass and gravity. This, then, attracts other matter. This process continues building the planet outward from the center of mass. In order for a hollow planet to form the mass would have to pack together in a direction that orthogonal to the center of gravity. There's no natural way for that to happen.

Answer 5

No.

Other considerations apart, matter is not strong enough to support this. A hollow Earth would collapse under its own gravity.

For example, the highest mountain that would be possible on Earth with the strength of rock as it is would be about twice the height of Everest, or somewhat close to the height above sea level of Mauna Kea.

The stength of matter is down to things like the charge of the electron and the fine structure constant - ie it is a property of the universe and not likely to change.

Answer 6

A hollow planet is possible with life on outside surface. Life can not be inside and certainly no sun at the center.

Answer 7

From my understandings of gravitational field theory, NO. That's not to say there couldn't be some sort of anomalous retro-grade "magnetic repulsion" occurance... which could produce a kind of core repulsion mechanism against the outter shell, whereby a portion of the "inner cavity" was indeed devoid of material. This might be somewhat akin to the formation of geodes... but much more unlikely.

Answer 8

It would be difficult to have appropriate gravity on the outside, and impossible to have it on the inside. (Provable with calculus.) So, it could not happen.

Answer 9

Thats pretty interesting. I guess anything is possible. But as for our planet, I doubt it.