What Would Happen If...

Okay, picture this:

You are on the top of the world (the North Pole). With me so far? Okay, so, say you have a machine that can dig a hole through the earth. So you do it. You dig a hole from the North Pole to the South Pole.

Okay, you are digging down and down, so when you pop out the other side, you will fall out of the Earth cause you're facing downward. You'll just fall... like defy gravity, won't you? What would happen?

ahhhhhhHHHH!!!!!!

*pulls trigger*

That was insanely helpful.

Lol, that wouldn't happen. Assuming you could dig to the center of the earth and through (which would be quite a feat XD), you would have a hard time getting away from the center to keep boring. Gravity is still pulling you in, though the orientation (direction of pull) would change.
To get a hole through the earth, through the North and South poles, you'd have to have one machine at each pole, digging simultaneously. The center of gravity still exists, you're just reaching it.

I don't know what would happen if you reached the exact center, though. Maybe you die. Maybe "Proceed to Next Level" appears in front of you and you blink out of existence.

That's just my take on the idea, though. I was thinking about it last week. How freaky is that?

lol very!

Okay, but forget about the whole gravitational pull thing for a bit. Just think that there is none of that in the middle of the earth. What would happen if you dig your way out of the other side?

BigBadBear wrote:lol very!

Okay, but forget about the whole gravitational pull thing for a bit. Just think that there is none of that in the middle of the earth. What would happen if you dig your way out of the other side?

That's not physically possible. But whatever.

If those circumstances were in effect, then...no gravity, you say? Considering the speed at which the earth turns... Er. It might be impossible for humans to exist. XD

Back to your point. I think that if the earth did not have any gravity and you managed to hollow it out through the center, then...it would look like a doughnut, and there is no gravity, so it's basically like space in there? [s]Like the Death Star[/s] A free-float, perhaps. Except absolutely crazy, because the earth is still turning at that incredible rate. I don't think you would notice the turning unless you were somehow hooked up to a wall, but unless you were hooked, you would get left behind in the wake of earth's orbit of the sun.

>.< I'll shut up now.

(Sumi is only 13? Haha. That's funny cause I thought you were 15 or something!)

Anyway, no, forget about the whole no gravity thing.

Just imagine that you dig a hole through the earth from the North Pole to the South Pole. What would happen when you hit the South Pole?

Let us see. If I dug a hole through the earth and popped out on the other side on the South Pole, my first thought that would come to mind would be comparing the differences between the two poles.

Secondly, I would deeply regret taking a heavy jacket and a portable heater.

Thirdly, I would look around and explore, maybe play poker with some baby seals.

What would *happen* when I hit the south pole? I would.. be in the South Pole. What exactly do you mean?

...You can't dig through the Earth...

Okay, no gravity? I suppose I'd fall off the Earth into space, having been going at such a fast speed to dig through.

*Shrug* 'Tis impossible.

~JFW1415

Assuming reaching the core doesnt completely destroy you... also....


Assuming you could do this and leave a cylindrical hole. And you fell in...

You would accelerate towards the center and as you passed the center begin to decelerate. Then as you reached the opposite surface you would not exit but rather slow to a halt and then begin to fall back the other way. This cycle would repeat (oscillate) until you finally stopped in the center due to friction from the air. If this was in a vacuum I guess you would oscillate forever like a pendulum.


I used the power of the internetes! Sorry I was being annoying earlier... it hurt my brain. Hope this helps!

Ugh. You guys just don't get it!

Okay, right now, get a piece of paper and draw earth. Just a circle will do. Ok, now draw a line going from the top to the bottom.

That's what I mean. You dig, dig, dig and then (if you somehow got past the core) you would pop out of the other side facing downward[/i.] Cause when you dig, you are digging down and you will [i]continue to dig down until you pop out of the South Pole. And then when you have no ground underneath you, you will fall into the sky and never return to the earth.

See?

BigBadBear wrote:Ugh. You guys just don't get it!

Okay, right now, get a piece of paper and draw earth. Just a circle will do. Ok, now draw a line going from the top to the bottom.

That's what I mean. You dig, dig, dig and then (if you somehow got past the core) you would pop out of the other side facing downward[/i.] Cause when you dig, you are digging down and you will [i]continue to dig down until you pop out of the South Pole. And then when you have no ground underneath you, you will fall into the sky and never return to the earth.

See?

Gravity would cause you to fall back down to the core. I don't get what your trying to get out of this.

Hmmmm...

Maybe you'd smack your head into the ozone. At the rate you went it would shatter like glass...

But that's just what I think...

It would be cool though...

so intensly ironic its crazy... because.... I just did this in science today. whoo hoo.

and you wouldn't fall off, because i doubt you would even get out of the middle.

the earth's center has almost zero magnetism but a crap-load of gravitational pull, and so when you got to the center, you would float around (like in space) but would be squished by gravity.

but if somehow you got out the other side, you would not fall and feel perfectly right side up, while laughing with the penguins, and proceed to walk back home and eat a PB J

That's what I mean. You dig, dig, dig and then (if you somehow got past the core) you would pop out of the other side facing downward[/i.] Cause when you dig, you are digging down and you will [i]continue to dig down until you pop out of the South Pole. And then when you have no ground underneath you, you will fall into the sky and never return to the earth.

Problem is, 'down' will change direction exactly half way through. Once you'd passed the core you'd no longer be digging down, but up towards the South Pole.

Don't think of it as a sphere, but as a flat plane. You dig down, reach the bottom, and then dig upwards again.

Like this:
[pre]
NP____________________SP
|\ / |
| \ / |
| \ / |
| \ / |
| \/ |
| CoE |
--------------------

NP: North Pole
SP: South Pole
CoE: Center of Earth[/pre]

You could also think of it like this:

NP >--->--->--->--->-CoE-<---<---<---<---< SP

The arrows represent which way is 'down' (the direction gravity is pulling you). As you go right from NP, you are following the arrows (falling down), once you've passed the CoE and continue right towards the SP you will be going against the arrows (climbing upwards, against gravity).