# Center of the earth **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 11, 2001, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/center-of-the-earth/49444 "2001-01-11T02:02:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Qwertyasdfg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/ecc23a/32.png) [@Qwertyasdfg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qwertyasdfg)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2001, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/center-of-the-earth/49444/1 "2001-01-11T02:02:05Z")
What exactly would it be like at the exact center of the earth, besides hot? ---
**Author:** ![Outrider](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/9d8465/32.png) [@Outrider](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Outrider)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2001, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/center-of-the-earth/49444/2 "2001-01-11T02:16:05Z")
What I’m really wondering is what would happen if you drilled a hole straight through the earth, running through the center, and jumped in. Here’s what I think will happen: 1. You jump in, and start accelerating downward at g 2. Gradually, this acceleration approaches 0 as you near the center 3. You pass through the center, your acceleration is 0 but you moving at an insanely high velocity. 4. You continue to “fall”, but now you experience negative acceleration 5. The acceleration reaches -g as you exit the hole on the opposite side. 6. Your velocity becomes 0. For a split second, you hover in mid-air 7. Then you fall back into the hole, and repeat steps 1-7 Does that sound plausible? (Well, assuming you don’t die.) ---
**Author:** ![Chocobo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/898d66/32.png) [@Chocobo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chocobo)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2001, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/center-of-the-earth/49444/3 "2001-01-11T03:05:40Z")
It’d be solid, so you’d have to find a way around that…not to mention that you’d have the weight of the world on your shoulders… ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2001, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/center-of-the-earth/49444/4 "2001-01-11T04:39:51Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Outrider \* > \*\*What I’m really wondering is what would happen if you drilled a hole straight through the earth, running through the center, and jumped in. > > Here’s what I think will happen: > > 1. You jump in, and start accelerating downward at g > 2. Gradually, this acceleration approaches 0 as you near the center > 3. You pass through the center, your acceleration is 0 but you moving at an insanely high velocity. > 4. You continue to “fall”, but now you experience negative acceleration > 5. The acceleration reaches -g as you exit the hole on the opposite side. > 6. Your velocity becomes 0. For a split second, you hover in mid-air > 7. Then you fall back into the hole, and repeat steps 1-7 > > Does that sound plausible? (Well, assuming you don’t die.) \*\* That is, in fact, exactly what would happen, (assuming the hole you dug was perfectly straight and completely free of any air, so you’d have no resistance as you fell.) Cecil has answered it here: [http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a1\_165.html](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a1_165.html) ---
**Author:** ![Zor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/848f3c/32.png) [@Zor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zor)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2001, 7:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/center-of-the-earth/49444/5 "2001-01-11T07:13:19Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Chocobo \* > \*\*…not to mention that you’d have the weight of the world on your shoulders… \*\* Actually, if there were a room down there for you to stay in, you’d be weightless… that room will have to counter some huge pressures and high temperatures though… other than that, nothing really special will happen… ---
**Author:** ![Phobos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Phobos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phobos)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2001, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/center-of-the-earth/49444/6 "2001-01-11T14:21:30Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Qwertyasdfg \* > \*\*What exactly would it be like at the exact center of the earth, besides hot? \*\* feeling - high pressure, hot. sight - bright. (surprisingly, but remember that hot stuff glows…like embers in a campfire) I forget what color it would be, but it relates to the temperature. sound - don’t know taste - iron-y smell - don’t know emotional - lonely ---
**Author:** ![hibernicus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hibernicus/32/2802_2.png) [@hibernicus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hibernicus)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2001, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/center-of-the-earth/49444/7 "2001-01-11T17:29:57Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by RickJay \* > \*\* > > That is, in fact, exactly what would happen, (assuming the hole you dug was perfectly straight and completely free of any air, so you’d have no resistance as you fell.) Cecil has answered it here: > > [http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a1\_165.html](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a1_165.html) > > \*\* Cecil didn’t point out that the hole would not have to go through the centre of the earth. A straight hole from (say) London to New York would allow the same effect, assuming the “floor” was frictionless. I’m guessing the time taken to fall “all the way through” would be the same for the “straight down” case as for the oblique case. Oh, and a minor nitpick; you wouldn’t emerge from the hole at the South Pole, as it’s too high above sea level. Going the other way, you would meet the ocean pouring in (and flashing into steam) through the hole at the North Pole.