If bore hole from north pole through south pole and jump in it,can we travel to the other side in no time?

Question

I was looking at a swing in the playground and watch how it swings back with the same momentum as it was being push by a child. Imagining the eath, it's round and you are standing at the north pole. Ignoring the hot inner core that could melt you down once you pass by it, just to give way to what I want to know, I am thinking that you gain acceleration at first as you travel to the center of the earth and once you traversed that center you will now start to slow down and reach the south pole in a momentum of just about to jump in. How long will I travel to reach the opposite side of the earth considering my momentum and acceleration? -Mykk

Answer 1

I failed miserably in physics, but I tried. I don't know the answer to your question, but it is a very intriguing one.

Answer 2

1. You'd win an award for have the most kickass drilling techniques in the whole world, so kudos! 2. You might need visas to where you're headed :) 3. By the time you get 30% - 40% towards the center of the Earth, the heat will become too much and unbearable and your body will burn and disintegrate! So 1 and 2 really don't matter! Very outward thinking by the way! =)

Answer 3

Your problem is solvable.

We'll assume that the earth is filled with a vacuum. Otherwise you'll burn up in the magma. If it were just air, you'd quickly reach terminal velocity, and wouldn't get anywhere near the surface of the south pole. We'll also assume that the earth is spherical (it it almost is, but not exactly).

Your intuition was correct--given our somewhat farfetched assumptions, you will get to the south pole.

The force you experience is G (your mass) (mass of earth within a shell of radius r) / r^2. Note that once you get into the earth, the effective mass goes down, it is proportional to r^3.

So the force is G (your mass) (earth's total mass * r^3 / R^3) / r^2
where R is the earth's total radius.

= G (your mass) (earth's mass) * r / R^3

The force is proportional to your distance from the center. This is just like a spring, simple harmonic motion, with a spring constant k = G (your mass) (earth's mass) / R^3.

The period is just the square root of k / m.

So T = square root of G (earth's mass) / (earth's radius at N pole) ^3

Look up the constants and plug them into your calculator.

Remember that T is the period for a round trip back to Santa. So if you want to just stop and hang with the penguins, divide it by 2.

Answer 4

Fun Question.
Assumming the poles were straight up and down and not tilted on its axis. I guess you'd have to pretend you're skydiving and after you jump in you reach terminal velocity (the fastest you're able to fall given wind resistance) which is about 120 mile per hour (more if you're standing straight up and falling like a pencil). Let's pretend your speed is a mirror image of what it was after you pass the core. I forget what the diameter of the earth is, but let's say it's about 10,000 miles. Time = distance / velocity. Time = 10,000 / 120.
Time = 83.3 hours. That's my guess.

Answer 5

you would also need to assume that you would be falling through a vacuum, as if you don't you will suffer from air resistance. cosequently (assuming symetrical Earth) you would not have sufficient kinetic energy to make it back up to surface level, as some would be lost to heat and sound. in fact you would oscillate back and forwards gradually losing energy until you came to rest at the mid point, like a pendulum slowly winding down

Answer 6

when we will jump into a hole through from north pole to south pole we will have to certainly pass through the center of the earth (the temperature of the mantle of the earth is hotter than the surface of the earth ) hence it is impossible to pass through it .

Answer 7

if u jump in frm north pole then u will travel till south pole and all ur kinetic energy will be used and u will again attracted towards north.so motion executed by u will be SHM and ur time period will be 2 pi(R/g)^1/2

Answer 8

if your move westward you travel backwards through time at ANY rate

theres no way to measure that since the gravity would constantly change at an unpredictable rate the formula must contain an x

Answer 9

There is no time.
It's just an illusion.