Ask a Question 3

From Steve Hardeman:  If you dug a hole through the center of the earth,and jumped in, would you stay at the center because of gravity?…Oh, also, on the center of the earth question, I almost forgot to mention that you have a special suit that no one else knows about that protects you from any and all elements that may harm you. So, you can’t cop out and say that I’d burn up as I approached the center. This is very important.

I see, why let something like a fact get in the way of a really entertaining hypothesis right?  OK here goes:

First you have to understand that gravity is a function of mass so at the very center of the earth you would be weightless because gravity would be working on you equally in all directions.

Ok so lets presume you go into your back yard in Atlanta and you make your hole and you jump in.  Assuming there is no friction you’d fall and you would pick up speed, once you pass the center you will begin to slow down at exactly the same rate you accelerated you’d stop pertty close to Caloocan Philippines, just long enough to wave in the direction of John T Bones Jail cell, (You didn’t really think youd end up in China did you?  yer above the equator and so is China  so that dog wont hunt) anyway, then youd start falling back and you’d end up precisely where you started and youd do this cycle forever.

Now, since there will be friction it happens differently. You will begin to accelerate until you hit the point where the resistance of the air counteracts the gravity, this is known in physics as “terminal velocity” and you will accelerate no more, as you pass the center of the earth you will begin to slow down and will be pulled back, this will continue in both directions untill you hit a state of equilibrium and end up floating weightless at the center of the earth.  Whereupon some preteen ruffian will come across your hole and think wow this would be a cool thing to pee into…