The small amount of momentum you have at this point will cause you to overshoot the center of the earth and keep on moving through the hole.
Also, the air in the hole is so dense at this point that it is like traveling through soup. The strength of gravity at the center of earth is zero because there are equal amounts of matter in all directions, all exerting an equal gravitational pull. With gravity getting weaker, and air resistance getting stronger, your speed steadily drops.Īfter about a week or so of falling (with a maximum speed of 200 km/h, it takes you a while to travel the 6400 km to the center), you finally reach the exact center of the earth. Also, as you fall, the air pressure goes up so that the air exerts more force against your motion. The farther you fall, the weaker the gravity becomes because more and more of the earth's mass is above you canceling the gravity from the other side of the earth. The air resistance at this speed is high enough to prevent you from accelerating more. After about ten seconds, having traveled 0.5 kilometers down (0.008% of the way to earth's center), you reach a maximum speed of about 200 kilometers per hour (120 mph). Then what happens when you jump in the hole? You accelerate as you fall, picking up speed because of earth's gravity. Let's assume you put on some kind of futuristic suit that protects you from all pressure effects, all heat effects, all toxic gas effects, and all radiation effects. The air itself in the tunnel is at these temperatures. Note that you don't have to be touching the tunnel walls to feel this heat. Even with a pressure suit, you don't get very far before being incinerated from the heat. As should be obvious, going deep into the earth is generally a bad idea. Your dust remains then fall the rest of the 6200 kilometers (97% of the way) to the earth's center. Upon falling to about 200 kilometers deep (3% of the way to earth's center), your dried up bones and remnants of flesh encounter a temperature of about 1200 Kelvin and are completely incinerated into dust. After falling a total distance of about 2.7 kilometers (0.04% of the way to earth's center), your corpse encounters a temperature of about 400 Kelvin and your bodily fluids begin to boil away. What would happen to you if you fell in the hole with this pressure suit on?Īfter falling about 1.1 kilometers (0.02% of the way to earth's center), you encounter a temperature of about 320 Kelvin and die of heat stroke. Let's assume you are able to put on some kind of futuristic pressure suit that can protect you from any amount of pressure. As you can see, you do not make it very far at all in your journey through the earth before dying. Note that this pressure is from the air itself above you pressing down and not from the rocks. The farther your corpse falls, the more it becomes crushed by the intense air pressure. What would happen if you fell into this hole?Īfter falling about 0.15 kilometers (0.002% of the way to earth's center), you encounter about 20 atmospheres of air pressure and die from hyperoxia. Further suppose the hole has a strong enough wall to keep it from collapsing or melting. Baird.įor the sake of the argument, let's assume you could dig a wide, perfectly straight hole directly down to the center of earth and out to the other side of earth. Public Domain Image, source: Christopher S.
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