# A single wormhole is created. Where should the two ends go? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 11, 2013, 5:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-single-wormhole-is-created-where-should-the-two-ends-go/652615 "2013-03-11T05:17:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Yumblie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/76d3ee/32.png) [@Yumblie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yumblie)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2013, 5:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-single-wormhole-is-created-where-should-the-two-ends-go/652615/1 "2013-03-11T05:17:07Z")
Suppose through some curious accident at the LHC, scientists end up accidentally creating a stable wormhole. The wormhole has two gates three meters in diameter. Each gate weighs essentially nothing and can easily be transported anywhere. Walking into one instantaneously has you walking out the other one. While the scientists are trying to figure out what happened, they decide to increase the convenience of world travel for the general populace by placing the gates at two far apart places on the Earth. So where should they be put? ---
**Author:** ![Flyer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/flyer/32/7298_2.png) [@Flyer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flyer)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2013, 5:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-single-wormhole-is-created-where-should-the-two-ends-go/652615/2 "2013-03-11T05:48:36Z")
I’m not sure if this is the best idea, but I would say New York and London. That’s a pairing of two major cities in countries that have good relations and speak the same language. There’s also a percentage–probably a significant percentage–of people in both countries who would travel to the other country if the trip were quicker and/or cheaper. Even if the wormhole can transport people only, not large items, it would likely have some sort of effect on commerce between the countries. ---
**Author:** ![Sofis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Sofis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sofis)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2013, 6:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-single-wormhole-is-created-where-should-the-two-ends-go/652615/3 "2013-03-11T06:46:47Z")
They should move around. Given that many transports of goods and people aren’t super time sensitive and can wait for a few weeks until you have the connection you want, there is no sense in having one permanent connection. The schedule for moving the gates should be based on current travel and transport patterns. ---
**Author:** ![drastic\_quench](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e36b37/32.png) [@drastic\_quench](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drastic_quench)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2013, 6:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-single-wormhole-is-created-where-should-the-two-ends-go/652615/4 "2013-03-11T06:47:18Z")
Penis and vagina. Transcontinental glory hole. Anywhere we can send one gate to? Mars. Send it on a rocket to Mars. ---
**Author:** ![Phnord\_Prephect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/df705f/32.png) [@Phnord\_Prephect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phnord_Prephect)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2013, 9:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-single-wormhole-is-created-where-should-the-two-ends-go/652615/5 "2013-03-11T09:35:13Z")
> [@Yumblie](#): > > Suppose through some curious accident at the LHC, scientists end up accidentally creating a stable wormhole. The wormhole has two gates three meters in diameter. Each gate weighs essentially nothing and can easily be transported anywhere. Walking into one instantaneously has you walking out the other one. > > While the scientists are trying to figure out what happened, they decide to increase the convenience of world travel for the general populace by placing the gates at two far apart places on the Earth. > > So where should they be put? Directly above one another. In between them, some device to harness gravitational energy of falling items. Let’s say, the Hoover Dam to start. One at the bottom, one up above. Open the gates, turn all the generators to full, and let 'er rip. Then, I dunno, build something to drop huge heavy electromagnets through, to generate electrical power, and move the gates over/below that. Distribution of energy is still a problem, but generation? Not so much anymore. ---
**Author:** ![Engineer\_Dude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9fc29f/32.png) [@Engineer\_Dude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Engineer_Dude)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2013, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-single-wormhole-is-created-where-should-the-two-ends-go/652615/6 "2013-03-11T13:52:26Z")
> [@Flyer](#): > > I’m not sure if this is the best idea, but I would say New York and London. Good thinking, but I’d have to say somewhere on the Europe/Asia/Africa maniland. Just so you don’t have to cross any water to get to both places. Say, New York and Paris. Sorry, Australia, you were a close second. Would be nice to get rid of those expensive plane ticket costs. ---
**Author:** ![Doctor\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctor_jackson/32/32_2.png) [@Doctor\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2013, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-single-wormhole-is-created-where-should-the-two-ends-go/652615/7 "2013-03-11T16:48:10Z")
It really doesn’t matter. If you cut the worm hole in half, _both halves regenerate the missing parts and become whole holes_. “Worm hole”, after all, is just a shortened form of “Earthworm hole”. A few splices and there’ll be enough holes for everyone! ---
**Author:** ![Balance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ccd318/32.png) [@Balance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balance)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2013, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-single-wormhole-is-created-where-should-the-two-ends-go/652615/8 "2013-03-11T20:21:46Z")
I like **Phnord** ’s approach. Bonus: Since it would improve efficiency and stability to evacuate the core of the generator coil anyway, we’ll eventually have a mass driver capable of firing our huge (permanent, not electro) magnets at significant fractions of _c_. Of course, it will be very tricky aiming them at anything other than the ground. And there might be problems with them developing substantial gravitational fields that would stress the whole structure. And there wouldn’t really be any way to turn it off after a while. Then again…maybe inefficiency would be a good thing. > [@Doctor\_Jackson](#): > > A few splices and there’ll be enough holes for everyone! Then we’ll put the Albert Hall issue to rest at last. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2013, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-single-wormhole-is-created-where-should-the-two-ends-go/652615/9 "2013-03-11T20:30:50Z")
Keep one end on earth, send the other one attached to a deep-space module, wait about a year, then shovel garbage into the hole. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2013, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-single-wormhole-is-created-where-should-the-two-ends-go/652615/10 "2013-03-11T20:31:41Z")
> [@drastic\_quench](#): > > Penis and vagina. Transcontinental glory hole. I agree, Paris and Virginia would be great choices. ---
**Author:** ![Don\_t\_Panic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/don_t_panic/32/398_2.png) [@Don\_t\_Panic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_t_Panic)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2013, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-single-wormhole-is-created-where-should-the-two-ends-go/652615/11 "2013-03-11T20:32:22Z")
My bedroom and my bathroom. I’m tired of walking through a cold hallway to get to the loo. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2013, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-single-wormhole-is-created-where-should-the-two-ends-go/652615/12 "2013-03-11T20:33:25Z")
> [@Martian Bigfoot](#): > > My bedroom and my bathroom. I’m tired of walking through a cold hallway to get to the loo. If you just put one end over the toilet, you could pee into the other end. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2013, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-single-wormhole-is-created-where-should-the-two-ends-go/652615/13 "2013-03-11T20:52:01Z")
It’s only about eight hours to travel from New York to London. I sat next to a guy at a bar last week who was about to head from San Francisco to Australia or New Zealand, and it was going to be about 23 hours total, with various layovers. So, I’d say New York and Sydney. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2013, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-single-wormhole-is-created-where-should-the-two-ends-go/652615/14 "2013-03-11T20:57:46Z")
Honey Boo Boo’s house and the mouth of an active volcano? ---
**Author:** ![Projammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/projammer/32/559_2.png) [@Projammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Projammer)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2013, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-single-wormhole-is-created-where-should-the-two-ends-go/652615/15 "2013-03-11T21:44:02Z")
Let’s mount or tow one behind a high altitude reconnaissance plane and sink the other a couple of miles into the ocean. Power wash North Korea off the map. ---
**Author:** ![Yeticus\_Rex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/a698b9/32.png) [@Yeticus\_Rex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yeticus_Rex)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2013, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-single-wormhole-is-created-where-should-the-two-ends-go/652615/16 "2013-03-11T21:49:25Z")
The bottom of the biggest quarry and right above **SnowboarderBo** ’s house. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2013, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-single-wormhole-is-created-where-should-the-two-ends-go/652615/17 "2013-03-11T21:50:48Z")
Keep one end on Earth, the other end in high Earth orbit. Space travel just became a whole lot easier and cheaper. ---
**Author:** ![Projammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/projammer/32/559_2.png) [@Projammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Projammer)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2013, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-single-wormhole-is-created-where-should-the-two-ends-go/652615/18 "2013-03-11T22:03:46Z")
You’d want one of the Lagrange points for that. ---
**Author:** ![Crocodiles\_And\_Boulevards](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ee7513/32.png) [@Crocodiles\_And\_Boulevards](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crocodiles_And_Boulevards)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2013, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-single-wormhole-is-created-where-should-the-two-ends-go/652615/19 "2013-03-11T22:36:08Z")
Could a three meter diameter wormhole really serve as a mass transit line like some here are suggesting? It seems to me that such a small gateway necessarily means it won’t be useful for the mass transportation of people or goods other than gases, liquids or particulates. Perhaps it could be used as an emergency connector for power or supplies in the event of a disaster. You could easily run cables from a working power plant in one region to a grid with a damaged plant. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2013, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-single-wormhole-is-created-where-should-the-two-ends-go/652615/20 "2013-03-11T22:53:41Z")
The stargates in SG-1 are almost 5 meters in diameter; at 3 meters, assuming you build a little platform across the bottom edge of it so nobody loses a foot or trips over it (depending on how it works), the net height available would be about 2.5 meters, which isn’t enough for much in the way of vehicular traffic. You could probably drive an airport luggage train through it, though, so you’d be able to get some sort of freight going, but I’d guess that tourism would be the main use. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-single-wormhole-is-created-where-should-the-two-ends-go/652615.md?page=2)