If a hole was drilled trough the center of the earth, and it would be completely clear(no liquid hot magma),if you jumped through it would you gain speed until you got to the center, slow down and then fall back the other way, eventually floating in the exact middle of the earth.
2007-05-30 06:20:08 · 6 answers · asked by Anonymous in Science & Mathematics ➔ Physics
There are 2 interesting conditions. First, assume it was a hole only, not sealed at either end. If you jumped in, you would reach terminal velocity within a moment or so, and continue downward. Within about 10 minutes, you would start slowing down. The reason is that for every 10 miles down, the density of air would increase by a factor of 10; after about 45 miles, the density of the air would equal that of water - you would float at that point, and would have trouble trying to swim either up or down, since, unlike water, the density and therefore the bouyant force of air is not constant with depth.
As a second interesting condition and to solve this problem, you could seal both ends of the tunnel and apply a vacuum. Go through the airlock in a spacesuit and step down. If the vacuum was very, very good, you would accelerate to thousands of miles per hour within a couple of minutes. You would accelerate at 32ft/sec^2 until a significant portion of Earth's mass was above you, and the rate of acceration would begin to decrease, though you still would be travelling thousands of miles per hour. Acceleration at Earth's center would be zero. Gradually as you passed center Earth, gravity in the reverse direction will increase. If the vacuum were perfect, you would slow to zero speed just as you popped out the other end. If you don't grab ahold of something, the cycle will repeat and you will start falling back toward where you started.
2007-05-30 06:45:56 · answer #1 · answered by Gary H 6 · 2⤊ 0⤋
You got it.
Air resistance would slow you on every pass and you would eventually come to rest in the center (or close to it, as someone pointed out).
I think you'd also have a problem with the sides of the hole. Closer to the center of the earth the speed of rotation is less than where you started, so you'd be bumping into the side of the tunnel a lot.
2007-05-30 14:01:02 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
no, if you had a hole through the center and tried to go thropugh it you could not. past the mantle and crust is a layer of magma. that is liquid lava and is melted or molten rock. the heat would kill you at once. also there would be no oxygen. so it would be impossible for a person to fall through the center of the earth ond come out on the other side
2007-05-30 13:39:45 · answer #3 · answered by wiled4293@sbcglobal.net 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
You will not float in the center of the Earth.
Stable equilibrium point is impossible in
fields of zero divergence.
You will end up parked at the wall of the hole,
near the center of the Earth.
2007-05-30 13:24:44 · answer #4 · answered by Alexander 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Yes. If you neglected air resistance, and the earth was exactly spherical, you would come to a stop exactly as you reached the other side of the earth. Making the problem more "realistic" means that you wouldn't quite make it to the other side, and the motion would do as you describe after a few oscillations.
2007-05-30 13:23:12 · answer #5 · answered by supastremph 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
yes. also ignoring heat and air pressure, etc.
2007-05-30 13:23:46 · answer #6 · answered by Philo 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋