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If you dug a hole through the Earth and jumped in then would you go right through or float somewhere near the middle?

My son asked this question which I can't answer!  Assume that the hole goes right through, i.e. no core.

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Categories: Planet Earth.

Tags: gravity.

 

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Cymru says:

If the hole was a vacuum then you would accelerate until you reached the middle, and then start to decelerate until you came out at the other side at ground level. However, since the tube is probably filled with air then the resistance would slow you down enough that you would come to a halt just before the end, and then start to fall back. Each passage would be a little shorter until you came to a halt at the center of the earth.

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posted on 2009-12-01 00:39:04 | Report abuse


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AlanH says:

Assuming that you could find a material strong enough to resist the pressure that you would experience in your plunge towards the Earth's core, then your charred remains would come to rest at the centre.  You would not pass through the planet as gravity would start to decelerate you as you move away from its centre of mass and frictional forces would prevent you from surfacing at the other side

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posted on 2009-12-03 20:23:52 | Report abuse


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