Subject:
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Re: John Leo's opinion of "The West Wing"
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.off-topic.debate
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Date:
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Thu, 3 Oct 2002 15:21:11 GMT
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Viewed:
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887 times
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David Koudys wrote:
>
> In lugnet.off-topic.debate, Frank Filz writes:
> > David Koudys wrote:
> > > I often wondered what would happen if we were to drill an 8 foot hole
> > > straight through the planet (of course, this idea assumes the core of the
> > > earth to be a nice room temperature, not molten rock...) and if wer were to
> > > jump down said hole--would we go past the center of the planet, slow down on
> > > the way to the other surface and just basically bounce back and forth thru
> > > the tunnel until we came to rest, free floating, at the exact center of the
> > > planet?
> >
> > I've wondered this in the past also. If the planet were not rotating, I
> > think the answer would be that your analysis is correct. Note that you
> > would be in a zero-G environment (or close to it) at the center assuming
> > the Earth is close to an evenly dense sphere (or at least each onion
> > skin layer is of uniform density) since basic Physics says that at a
> > point inside a sphere of uniform density, only that mass contained in
> > the sphere centered at the whole sphere's center of gravity and having a
> > radius equal to the distance the point is from the center of gravity is
> > involved in determining the gravitational attraction, the "layer"
> > outside that radius basically cancels itself out.
> >
> > With a rotating sphere like Earth, I think the problem is that you will
> > crash into the side of the hole since you will retain the velocity of
> > the surface, yet as you go down, the velocity of a point in the hole is
> > lower.
> >
> > Frank
>
> Never thought about the rotation--there was an H.G. Wells story about a guy
> that was granted a wish and his was for the earth to stop spinning--turns
> out that when the wish was mentioned, the earth stopped instantly anad
> everything that wasn't bolted to the ground went flying in a, now let me
> figure this out correctly, earth spins in a counter clockwise direction ...
> so if we suddenly stopped the spin, we'd all go flying to the... it's too
> late to think about this.. to the east due to momentum.
>
> When I visualized my little tunnel thru the planet, I always pictured it
> going from the north pole to the south pole, straight thru that bar magnet I
> know is there for all my grade 4-5 science books showed that picture of the
> magnet inside the earth.
>
> I don't think that rotation has that effect if the tunnel goes from top to
> bottom.
Ok, that would eliminate the rotation.
> Why would I always visualize the tunnel going thru the planet from top to
> bottom, instead of, say, from North America (around the 49th) to the other
> side, (probably the Pacific). Well, just reading that, my guess is that the
> tunnel would then become full of water, right up to sea level on my side of
> the tunnel.
Since your original problem statement assumed there was no problem with
a molten core, I think it's also reasonable to assume the water isn't a
problem (you can make a dam from all the earth you excavate from the
hole :-). You're certainly right though, the hole would fill with water,
on both sides (the water will fall through the center through to the
other side also). There will be an imperceptible lowering of sea level
(remember, your 8' diameter tunnel would hold as much water as an 8'
diameter tube which circles less than 1/3 of the globe, obviously
insignificant compared to the total volume of the oceans).
> Rats, this little idea I had when I was a kid is turning out to be not feasable.
:-)
Frank
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Message has 1 Reply:
 | | Re: John Leo's opinion of "The West Wing"
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| (...) Would it be a $#*crash*#$ into the side or more of a 'rubbing' every once in a while to stop the sideways velocity. Considering that gravity is pulling straight down, and the original velocity from the surface spin is moving you east at (...) (22 years ago, 3-Oct-02, to lugnet.off-topic.debate)
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Message is in Reply To:
| | Re: John Leo's opinion of "The West Wing"
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| (...) Never thought about the rotation--there was an H.G. Wells story about a guy that was granted a wish and his was for the earth to stop spinning--turns out that when the wish was mentioned, the earth stopped instantly anad everything that wasn't (...) (22 years ago, 3-Oct-02, to lugnet.off-topic.debate)
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