How deep could you dig into the earth with a shovel?

Question

Starting in Florida.

Answer 1

Depending on where you are in Florida, you will only get a few feet or more in most places in Florida before the hole floods. Elsewhere in the country you could dig pretty deep, but will run into two major problems. Eventually you will hit the local water table and end up again with water in the hole, or you'll have to keep digging horizontally as well as vertically to keep the walls from collapsing in on you.

Answer 2

This is the physically possible part from what I know as a geologist. The Soviet Union put its whole back into drilling the world's deepest hole, starting the project back in the 1960s (everything was a race to be deepest, first, whatever). They located a site on the Kola Peninsula in extreme northwest Russia, and by 1970 had everything in place. They began to drill a number of holes, with a target depth of 15 kilometers. They drilled for *twenty-four YEARS,* finally stopping in 1994. Their borehole designated "SG-3" had reached as deep as they could drill. Not because they ran out of pipe, or they didn't have the technology, but because the laws of physics now longer allowed drilling. At 12.262 km (7.4 miles), the pressure and temperature had gotten so high that even though they were still well within the "cool" outer crust of Earth, the rock had become plastic enough that every time they had to pull the bit out for normal maintenance, the rock would slowly flow back into the hole, and even back up the hole, due to pressure. So no matter how fast they got the bit, or a new bit back down to begin drilling, they had to "start over" at the same depth. It was like trying to drill a hole in honey, then puling the bit out and expecting the hole to stay open. So... in 1994, they gave up. However, it still remains the deepest hole ever drilled by Man. The TauTona gold-mine in South Africa is the second-deepest hole (and this one large enough to be occupied), but "only" about 3.9 km deep (2.4 miles). But to again illustrate how heat and pressure increases rapidly with depth, on the mine's *best* year, there were "only" five deaths due to the hostile environment -- 60 °C (140 °F), and stiffing pressure. They have an enormous air-conditioning system just to keep people alive and working. The legal part... I have no idea what local laws are regarding digging straight down in your own yard. But you're going to have to dispose of the dirt somewhere. You'll need reinforcing. You'll eventually need heavy equipment because you can't just do it with a shovel, and you'll probably hit the water table, which unless you bring in HUGE pumps, will be your maximum depth. But legally, I don't know how those things fit together.

Answer 3

Well, assuming you had the time and energy, and had a way to get around the tremendous heat as you got deeper, and had a way to shovel molten nickel-iron..you could dig halfway into the earth. Then, you would be digging OUT of the earth.

Seriously, there is a water well in Kansas that is suppost to be the deepest hand-dug well in the world (if memory serves me properly). You might check that out on the web. But, remember, you have to get all that dirt out with the shovel, and the hole would collapse in on itself (and possibly on you) eventually. But, when you reached bedrock you would be stopped in any case. Depth to bedrock varies widely throughout the world, from nothing (it's at the surface) to hundreds of feet, in the loess plains of China. Maybe more in some places.

I hope that helps answer your question.

Answer 4

My friend and I tried this as a kids, ages about 10 years, when we started seeing the tops of peoples heads, we were very scared. We stopped digging and filled up the hole. Later the next day we went back to the hole we had dug, and to our amazement there was the hole again!

The dirt was gone and all you could see was darkness. We came back later that night and looked into the hole, we were shocked! Looking back into the hole we could see the blue sky and clouds moving by! We lowered a ladder down into the hole and climbed down.

As we ascended we could hear talking, we could not make out words but we knew that it was not english. The temperature started to rise and we were worried that we at some point we just might burst into flames, but we continued. After some time the the temperature started to cool. Also we noticed that it was getting harder to climb. Then just as we were about to reach the edge of the hole.......

This is a great question, for I have not thought about this for ever. My friend and I actually did this. Of course we never got very deep, but we did think at some point we might actually see tops of peoples heads!(silly) It gets very hard going after about a couple of feet,(if we did get that far I don't remember that) so we just stopped. It was great fun. Man to be 10 again! Those were the days.

Answer 5

Before the invention of power equipment everything was dug by hand with shovels. The Erie canal, the New York subway, foundations for buildings. It just takes a lot of work and time.

Answer 6

What substance are you digging into? Quartz, granite, sand, it makes a difference.

Additionally if it is a one man job and a man-sized hole you also have to consider air quality as you go deeper.

Answer 7

not to the other side of the world. and if u dig put supports in or else it will collapse on you

Answer 8

That would depend on how long you live, and how long you
keep digging.

Answer 9

Probably until you hit bedrock

Answer 10

I think until you reach bedrock.