If You Fell Through The Center Of The Earth...

TenSix · April 2003

<div class="IPBDescription">Would you come out head or feet first?</div> I was talking about this with my friends, and none of us could really figure it out. Heres the picture:
<b>
A man jumps feet first into a hole through the center of the earth.

When he reaches the other side of the earth, will he come out feet first or head first?
</b>
Heres is the hard part: Gravity is pushing down, so you can't fall upwards, so if gravity is pushing towards the center of the earth then....you would just stick there spinning around?

Yes I know this would be impossible to test out, but IF you could, then what would happen?

Talesin · April 2003

You'd come out paste, with the amount of gravity exerted upon your body through air pressure if nothing else.

Unless, of course, you take into account the amount of sheer heat at the core of the earth, which would more render you into plasma than goop.

In either case, you'd end up very dead, and in a formation that had neither head nor feet, so the question is moot. <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif'>

FlatlineUTD · April 2003

Easy - you wouldn't come out. You'd either be crushed by the gravity or melted in the middle.

A winnar is me!

JediYoshi · April 2003

Ahh, but how would you get through the center?

<img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/wink.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='wink.gif'>

Gazaar · April 2003

I think that's the point flatline tried to convey, JY.

JediYoshi · April 2003

Well fine, I shall refresh the page while typing or on the replying page to see if anyone replies with the same point, point taken.

TenSix · April 2003

Apparently I need to put <span style='color:red'><b>IF</b></span> in big red bold letters.

<span style='color:red'><b>IF</b></span> You could fall through the center of the earth bearing none of the crushing effects of gravity or heat or any other enviormental influence, would you come out head or feet first?

tbZBeAst · April 2003

Neither, in the centre, you should stabilise.

BioHaz · April 2003

I would say it depends on how you fell, if you took the skydiver approach, you would probably come out chest first. Now if this were some kind of insane booby-trap, and you just fell, it probably would be feet first. <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif'>

Gwahir · April 2003

well... it depends on the relative elevations from the center of the earth as to whether or not you would stabilize. Assuming an airless environment, since you would reach terminal velocity before reaching the core otherwise, and would without a doubt be in a damped sinusoid until you finally stabilize.

Assuming these allow you to exit on the other side, it actually would depend on your gender I believe. Female center of gravity: waist, male: shoulders.
Woman: which ever way she entered the hole
male: maybe head first, not sure, too tired.

This is all assuming the person isn't spinning at the start.

ThinG · April 2003

You'd actually freeze before you reach the core <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif'>

The sun heats the surface of the earth, if the sun dies, planet freezes, we die etc etc, so the core only heats lets say 50% of the earth's diameter, lets say the sun does 25% then when you'd pass through the other 25% you'd probably freeze your bullock off <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/confused.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='confused.gif'>

numbers.... dizzyness....<img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif'>

But I think I'm right though o_O <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/wink.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='wink.gif'>

Cereal_KillR · April 2003

geez, have you people never seen cartoons? God I mean you'd come out digging your way out with a shovel, head first in some weird asian-lloking toonish place <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/wow.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='wow.gif'>

Dunsby · April 2003

You would die of shock.

SpceM0nkey · April 2003

</span><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> ([tbZ]BeAst @ Apr 15 2003, 02:35 AM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> Neither, in the centre, you should stabilise.  </td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'> 
True. when you got to the centre of the earth you should stabilise.

However the earth is not completely round and its gravitatial field is no competely even.

As such you would come near the middle, overshoot, come back, overshoot, go forward....

hence you would osscilate indefinately.

redeemed_darkness · April 2003

Depends on you velocity you might break through the gravitational pull like a sling shot

Burr · April 2003

I say stablize, or get rushed buy the immense amounts of pressure pushing down on your bod, then you would be a compressed version of yourself, dead and flaoting in the center of the earth...

Gigas · April 2003

</span><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> </td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> geez, have you people never seen cartoons? God I mean you'd come out digging your way out with a shovel, head first in some weird asian-lloking toonish place </td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'>

Then you'd get eaten by some crazy Chinese dragon! Damn those crazy, head-eating Chinese dragons...

Error404 · April 2003

You would oscillate, this idea has been tested in simulations created in a lab.

Barring, if air friction didn't burn you up first.

Redford · April 2003

No, because the gravity force of the earth, created by cintrifigual force of the rotation of the planet around the sun, means that it's focused at the middle. Thusly, when you reached the middle of the earth, the entire gravity force of the earth would be pushing onto you from all directions, and you would get stuck there forever. Alternatly, you would get smashed into jelly, but I'm assuming you are immortal because you survived the molten lava.

Error404 · April 2003

Air friction would definitely burn you up first, you'd be constantly accelerating to the centre of the earth, unless you wore a heatproof suit, you'd be dead. Besides even if you lived, the sudden stop, would cause all your internal organs to turn into pulp as they smashed into each other.

MedHead · April 2003

All of you are getting too scientific. Just pretend the world is hollow, and you're falling through it.

If you jumped feet first into the ground, you would fall through the hole on the other side with your feet first. However, since it was the other side of the world, you would then land on your head. Ow.

Aldaris · April 2003

Unfortunatly MedHead we can't answer simply because the situation is impossible. If the world is hollow, they'd be a pathetically weak gravitational field, and you wouldn't fall. Oh and you'd suffocate as there would be no atmosphere

Sephiroth2k · April 2003

none, there is no other side of the earth... it's flat.

Error404 · April 2003

</span><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (Aldaris @ Apr 15 2003, 09:59 AM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> Unfortunatly MedHead we can't answer simply because the situation is impossible. If the world is hollow, they'd be a pathetically weak gravitational field, and you wouldn't fall. Oh and you'd suffocate as there would be no atmosphere  </td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'> 
Yes thats right, if the world was hollow, it would actually collapse in on itself and form a blackhole.

Error404 · April 2003

</span><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (Sephiroth2k @ Apr 15 2003, 10:00 AM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> none, there is no other side of the earth... it's flat.  </td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'> 
In fact it's held up by a giant pizza delivery boy.

Aldaris · April 2003

Error404 where are you getting that black hole idea from?

Error404 · April 2003

If something collapsed in on itself fast enough, it would form a black hole. I suppose the earth probably won't form a black hole since it's only a small mass.

Burr · April 2003

I think that only stars do that, or maybe it is anything with gravity, but what do I know....

SpceM0nkey · April 2003

stars over a certain size.

Burr · April 2003

Yeah, I thought that the end of a stars life was the theoretical black hole or the small compressed neutrino star (or something like that), our sun is a middle age star, then they get bigger until there too big for there own gravity and collapse on themselves (or something along those lines, im not an astronomer, I just play one in the forums <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif'> )

Talesin · April 2003

Yeh.. stars with roughly more mass than ten or twenty, if not a few hundred times our solar system in entirety. And that's for a pinhole.

Oh.. and actually the human center of gravity (which is not what it sounds like) for the genders doesn't really matter when you're falling.. only when you're standing. It's more of your supported weight point.. females have it lower due to wider hips and slightly different leg structure, right around the pelvis. Males' point is just below and behind the navel. It's only a few inches different in truth, and just makes females a little more stable. Normally so they don't fall over during pregnancy as easy.

If You Fell Through The Center Of The Earth...

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