this post was submitted on 27 Nov 2024
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Science

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Is it possible to dig all the way through the Earth to the other side? (theconversation.com)
submitted 15 hours ago by tardigrada@beehaw.org to c/science@beehaw.org
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When digging a pit, one way to prevent the walls from collapsing inward under pressure is to make them less steep, so they slant outward like the sides of a cone. A good rule of thumb is to make the hole three times wider than its depth.

[...]

Suppose you were to try digging through the Earth, and that the planet was all solid. (We know that it’s not, but this is the simplest scenario.) The depth of a hole all the way through the planet would be equivalent to Earth’s diameter, which is just a name for a line that passes straight through the center of a circle. So your hole would need to be about three times as wide as the diameter of the Earth in order for it to be stable.

Clearly, this is an impossible task that would completely alter the planet’s shape.

[...]

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[–] Kolanaki@yiffit.net 9 points 15 hours ago* (last edited 15 hours ago) (1 children)

If there was a hole that went from one side of the earth, through the middle, to the other side and was safe for humans to be in: How much would they be charging to jump in? And how long would it take to fall all the way through?