Falling Through Hole in Earth

Most recent answer: 05/28/2016

Q:
Hi , it is been a long time i didnt get answer for this question , and i hope to get answer from you .If we drill earth from north to south , and there will be a big hole , so if we jump inside this hole from the north , will we reach to south , or we will stop in the middle , or we will reach to the south and earth will trawl us again to north (like a period) (north to south with non stop) !!
- Barez (age 21)
Iraq,erbil
A:

We assume that you mean an idealized version of this, not the real world with en extremely hot core, lots of friction, and so forth.

What would happen in this frictionless world is that you'd bounce back and forth between the poles, going fastest just as you went through the middle. It's very similar to what happens with a mass on a spring.

Mike W.


(published on 05/28/2016)