2007-04-24 10:38:27 · 6 answers · asked by Anonymous in Science & Mathematics ➔ Astronomy & Space
Not unless you made a near perfect vacuum there.
2007-04-24 10:42:24 · answer #1 · answered by Gene 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
No.
Given the unlikely prospect of having a tunnel all the way around the Earth's surface (not hardly likely because of the distance involved and the fact that there happen to be several oceans involved) one must consider that this tunnel would be essentialy at sea level or a few feet below it. Therefore, the atmospheric pressure would be 14 [ounds per square inch or greater. This would cause immense friction to any object attempting to fly through the tunnel. In short, what you would have to have is some kind of jet plane with an unlimited amount of fuel onboard. Flight at any speed above about 450 - 550 Miles Per Hour would be out of the question.
The usefulness of any satelite under ground is totally beyond me, but I hate to bring that up in view of the question itself.
Radio signals and radar transmissions have a way of being absorbed by dirt, sand, and rock which make up most of the Earth's surface. So any signals from the satelite would be lost in the crust of the Earth's soils.
2007-04-24 18:18:33 · answer #2 · answered by zahbudar 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Theoretically, yes. Pick up a tennis ball, throw it parallel to the ground. It basically just experiences a rapidly decaying orbit. If you could throw that ball fast enough it would orbit the earth, at near ground level, until air resistance brought it to the ground (ignoring geographical features of course)
There will be two factors causing problems with what you propose. Air resistance, and speed. The closer the orbiting object is to Earth, the faster it will need to go to sustain its orbit. Therefore if you could make the tube a vacuum, and have the satellite travel at a very high velocity it could orbit the Earth.
2007-04-24 17:56:03 · answer #3 · answered by peter G 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
In theory yes, provided certain conditions are met. The first condition is that you'd need to evacuate all the air. Orbital speed is 17,500mph at an altitude of 100 miles above the surface, so it would be a bit faster than that below the surface. You have only to look at what happened to the space shuttle Columbia to see the effect of trying to move through an atmosphere at that speed.
In practice, local variations in density of the Earth's crust would soon cause deviations in the orbit that would cause the vehicel to crash.
2007-04-24 18:14:21 · answer #4 · answered by Jason T 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Well this is more of a Earth science then a astronomy question.
The answer is no, running beneath the surface is the mantle of rock. The mantle is made of solid rock, the it does flow due to convection, it doesn't move very fast. Think of it as a flowing glacier is move but so slowly it's hardly measurable, beneath the mantle is the liquid outer core. The outer core is made of metal, mostly iron and nickel, but is is so viscus that anything there would be carried along is the current and not be able to move on it's own.
2007-04-24 17:57:35 · answer #5 · answered by Derek S 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Unlikely; friction in the air would slow it down and it would crash into the tunnel.
If you gave in an engine, then it might be able to propel itself at the correct speed for the orbital distance.
2007-04-24 17:53:22 · answer #6 · answered by Ali 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋