# Good Question, read

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-question-read/41123>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [November 14, 2000, 6:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-question-read/41123 "2000-11-14T06:11:20Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\
**Post date:** [November 14, 2000, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-question-read/41123/21 "2000-11-14T14:02:46Z")

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Think of air pressure as being the weight of the column of air above you, up into space. Air pressure, and viscosity, would continually INCREASE as you got closer to the center of the earth, so terminal velocity would decrease. You’d hit Vt while still near the surface, then slow down as you descended into an increasingly-thick soup. By the time you got to the center, you’d have very little kinetic energy left and wouldn’t go very far the other way.

With no air or any other energy-loss mechanisms, you’d make it all the way to the opposite end before your energy ran out, then fall back the other way in an endless oscillation. But before long, you’d wish you had some air.

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**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\
**Post date:** [November 14, 2000, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-question-read/41123/22 "2000-11-14T14:15:02Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by LANkrypt0 \*  
> \*\*Thanks for the link, but I wanted to pick everyones brain on this one =) \*\*

Well, you might want to ask such questions in the Comments on Cecil’s Columns forum. I predict that this thread will shortly be moved there anyway.

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**Author:** ![manhattan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manhattan/32/7_2.png) [@manhattan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/manhattan)\
**Post date:** [November 14, 2000, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-question-read/41123/23 "2000-11-14T14:42:10Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by LANkrypt0 \*  
> \*\*Thanks for the link, but I wanted to pick everyones brain on this one =) \*\*

_Exqueeze me_? Am I to understand that you already knew the answer was in the archives, and you asked it here already? That is a _very stupid_ way to start your posting career. Watch your step.

This thread is closed.

**AudreyK** , thanks for digging up that link; don’t let this guy lower your standards or your willingness to help.

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