Imagine a hole is made from north pole to south pole or from east to west, passing through the centre of the earth.what happens when an object is thrown into the hole from one side?
2007-02-27 01:49:15 · 19 answers · asked by ganesan d 2 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Earth Sciences & Geology
minootoo and Southpaw are the only ones that really seem to understand this question.
First of all -- this is a hypothetical, and in order to answer it you have to ignore the fact that it is completely impossible. What this question really has to do with is gravity -- and it is actually a great way of conceptualizing gravitational pull. So what do I think would happen....
The ball would accelerate towards the center of the earth at about 9.8 meters/second^2 and would eventually pass the center and continue towards the south pole, it would slow down more and more until it got almost to the surface and started back towards the center of the earth... it would again accelerate towards the center, and would again pass the center and go back towards the north pole. This would happen over and over and over until eventually the ball came to rest in the exact gravitational center of the earth.
Pretty cool. Though I can't say I'm sure I'm correct, or that I've ever tried it.
2007-02-27 02:51:47 · answer #1 · answered by brooks b 4 · 2⤊ 0⤋
You can't make a hole that goes all the way through the center of the earth as you intend (suspending the fact that we can not even drill to the mantel) for two reasons. 1)The outer core is liquid; so, you cannot have a hole through a liquid. 2)Even if there was a hole that went through the earth via the center, it would not continue to be one. This is because the earth's inner core is moving at a higher speed than that of the earth. This is what creates the magnetic field. Which means that once there is a hole the core would turn so that the hole is in a different position effectively covering up the "entrance way".
What you should probably ask is if an object could "faze through" solid matter, yet would still be effected by the earth's gravitational field, and could with stand 6,500 +/- 300 K temperatures, what would happen?
And to this, the object would eventually stop at the position that is the center of gravity (not immediately, it would slowly come to a stand still as the velocity slows because it does not have enough force to make it to the other side of the earth).
2007-02-27 10:43:01 · answer #2 · answered by BIF 2 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Such nonsense expressed here.
1. It DOES make a difference where on earth the hole is located. For an unimpeded passage, it must be pole-to-pole, otherwise Coriolis forces will push the object against the wall of the hole as the Earth spins.
2. If the hole were a vacuum, the object would indeed travel back and forth like a pendulum, accelerating (at an ever-slower rate) until it reached the center of the earth, then decelerating (at an ever-faster rate) as it rose again on the opposite side.
3. If the hole were filled with air, the object would accelerate only until reaching terminal velocity, then fall at an ever-slowing rate to the center. Why ever-slowing rate? Because terminal velocity depends on the density of the air, which increases rapidly as you go down, and on the gavitational acceleration, which decreases rapidly as you go down. On reaching the center of the earth, terminal velocity is zero, and the object would decelerate to nothing as it reached the center.
2007-02-27 17:33:34 · answer #3 · answered by Keith P 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
This is a classic Q? on B.Sc. Exam in Bombay university.
It does not have to be north pole to south pole it can be any where as long as it goes thru the centre of the earth and is tunnelled straight thru.
Object in such tunnel will oscillate, opening to opening and come to rest at the centre of the earth. This motion will follow the laws of simple harmonic motion, just like a pendulum.
We have made 3 attempts to go down for the purpose of sampling the earth at various depth. At last try the hole did not reach the previous depth. I think it fell short of even very first attempt. I think we have reached only 2.5 mile so far, max. We will need to drill a hole 8217 miles in length.
Most tunnels are drilled from both ends. But drill can only be few inches long, it can move down, as the hole advances. We should use a modified tunnelling equipment(like equipment used on London - Paris tunnel) next time, all previous attempts were with oil Riggs type equipment.
To day's technology will not allow us to tunnel thru but with this method I believe we Will be able to reach much deeper distances then previously archived.
Deepest ocean is about 6 miles.
2007-02-27 10:34:59 · answer #4 · answered by minootoo 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Note the point that you need not spend your energy i.e. "throw" the object because it will fall down itself into the hole just like a golf ball going into the hole because it is on the direction towards gravity. You have immediately imagined the hole created to be a cave, tunnel, or some dark passage. Be careful when intending to ask such so - called intelligent questions buddy !!!
2007-02-27 10:06:09 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Due to the earth's gravity,it would acquire momentum and by Newton's first law of motion it would keep on moving to the other side without getting stuck up at the centre But before coming out of the other side, it again gets back due to the earth's gravity that attracts it towards the centre It would for sometime perform an oscillatory type of motion and then stick to the centre of the earth
2007-02-27 13:56:07 · answer #6 · answered by ganesan 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
First of all you cannot make a hole between south and north pole. If at all made, the object that thrown would melt or stick with earth due to earth's gravitational power and rotation of the earth.
2007-02-27 10:19:06 · answer #7 · answered by hazimara 2 · 0⤊ 1⤋
If it doesn't melt on the way, it eventually stops at the center of the earth unless you threw it awfully fast. So I'm saying that an un-meltable object thrown fast enough will come out the other side of the earth. Do you believe it? Maybe we could pick-off a few unsuspecting terrorists that way.
2007-02-27 09:52:38 · answer #8 · answered by bobweb 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
well due to earths gravitational pull the object will travel upto the center and will eventually stops at the center .But it is practically not possible to make such a hole and may be the object will melt in the way to center as temperature increases with depth,nearlly about 4000 deg . at the center.
2007-02-27 10:09:57 · answer #9 · answered by Pintu 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It will follow a sort of Simple Harmonic Motion. It will be attracted towards the centre and its momentum will carry it past the centre to the other side where its speed will decrease and it will again be attracted towards the centre. Something like a pendulum's motion
2007-02-27 10:03:14 · answer #10 · answered by Southpaw 5 · 3⤊ 0⤋