Drunken Scientific Discoveries

Danfoss2011 · 6 Jun 2011 at 13:55

Well not all the way though but some super deep drilling for a sample of the core or something wasn't it

Russians and Japs so far been the closest to melting through

Dj_Jestar · 6 Jun 2011 at 13:59

this is the deepest anyone has ever got.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kola_Superdeep_Borehole

Tefal · 6 Jun 2011 at 13:59

Danfoss2011 said:
Well not all the way though but some super deep drilling for a sample of the core or something wasn't it

Russians and Japs so far been the closest to melting through

No.

We've not even made it though the crust.

deepest we've gotten is still only around 12km.

the world is about 12,000 km in diameter

Participant · 6 Jun 2011 at 13:59

Danfoss2011 said:
Am i being thick but didnt some group drill all the way through once?

He's right, it was these guys

Liampope · 6 Jun 2011 at 14:00

By the way - the idea of the OP is known as a mavity well if I'm not mistaken. Also, it doesn't need to pass through the centre of the earth to work - so you could in theory have a straight tunnel from, say, London to Rome, and if you assume you can eliminate the effects of friction, air resistance and pressure (not exactly valid assumption in practice, but hey - this is a drunken thought experiment, right?), then you could just fall all the way there. Energy-free transport system.

Deleted member 77746 · 6 Jun 2011 at 14:14

This won't happen so be quiet.

Inquizitor · 6 Jun 2011 at 14:43

iDroid84 said:
This won't happen so be quiet.

Hypotheticals are well worth discussing. As mentioned earlier in the thread, Einstein loved "thought experiments" as he called them to get his head around the various intricacies of relative physics.

Judgeneo · 6 Jun 2011 at 14:47

you would be weightless at the centre, mavity would pull each atom in you equally in all directions.

The Dread Pirate · 6 Jun 2011 at 15:01

You wouldn't get that far as I'm sure the Silurians would get rather annoyed at you randomly drilling through their homes!

eatcustard · 6 Jun 2011 at 15:24

Since when has China been the other side of the world to the UK?
Try OZ

Raikiri · 6 Jun 2011 at 15:27

Reaper 392 said:
there was something on QI about this a while back, and i believe they said it would take ~43 mins

You would have to average 18,000 km/h to do it in 43 minutes... I guess in a vacuum with no friction and the only force acting upon you being mavity then maybe

Marky · 6 Jun 2011 at 15:39

Some interesting points made in here

I loved these sort of discussions

unwashed potato! · 6 Jun 2011 at 15:42

Marky said:
The discussion of if you dug a hole in the ground and kept going you would eventually reach China..

you watch too many American movies

. Assuming your location is correct if you dug a hole and kept going you'd hit Australia mate.

Marky · 6 Jun 2011 at 15:44

Mammalian said:
you watch too many American movies . Assuming your location is correct if you dug a hole and kept going you'd hit Australia mate.

Yeah this has already been mentioned - however these discussions were made whilst drunk - Can't expect us to be geographically accurate all the time

Cosimo · 6 Jun 2011 at 15:52

eatcustard said:
Since when has China been the other side of the world to the UK?
Try OZ

Someone took a wrong turn.

Liampope · 6 Jun 2011 at 16:02

Mammalian said:
you watch too many American movies . Assuming your location is correct if you dug a hole and kept going you'd hit Australia mate.

Depends what direction you dig, innit

. Don't necessarily have to go through the exact centre of the earth if you don't feel like it - that'll be so 'been there done it' in the future, plus you'd run the risk of colliding at the centre with everyone else and his dog who's decided to dig a big hole and oscillate endlessly from one side of the planet to the other, so it might actually be preferable to miss the centre.

d_brennen · 6 Jun 2011 at 16:11

mavity is one of the "weakest" of all forces known to man is it not? Heat and radiation would be more of an issue I imagine. That and the Reptilian Over(under?)lords

SourChipmunk · 6 Jun 2011 at 17:02

simulatorman said:
Someone took a wrong turn.

Shoulda made a left at Albuquerque.

badcompany · 6 Jun 2011 at 17:18

DNA was discovered whilst under the influence of LSD.

FRANCIS CRICK, the Nobel Prize-winning father of modern genetics, was under the influence of LSD when he first deduced thedouble-helix structure of DNA nearly 50 years ago

Was quite popular thought aid back in the day.

http://www.miqel.com/entheogens/francis_crick_dna_lsd.html

Inquizitor · 6 Jun 2011 at 17:23

Mammalian said:
you watch too many American movies . Assuming your location is correct if you dug a hole and kept going you'd hit Australia mate.

The opposite side to the UK is actually closer to New Zealand, but still over ocean. South East of New Zealand by quite a margin.

http://www.antipodr.com/?addr=Birmingham,+UK&x=0&y=0