# Hollow Earth: Disproof **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [February 18, 2003, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hollow-earth-disproof/155760 "2003-02-18T00:42:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Ogre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ecb155/32.png) [@Ogre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ogre)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2003, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hollow-earth-disproof/155760/21 "2003-02-18T04:39:21Z")
Besides, the HET is a [pretty](http://www.gi.alaska.edu/ScienceForum/ASF7/718.html) [well](http://www.unmuseum.org/hollow.htm) [known](http://www.onelight.com/) [bit](http://www.tlonh.com/the_hollow_earth_theory.asp) [of](http://www.s-line.de/homepages/keppler/2frame.htm) [lunacy](http://skepdic.com/hollowearth.html). The preceding links were all found with a simple Google search on the term “Hollow Earth Theory.” As I recall, it’s an old nugget that rears it’s ridiculous head now and then, only to be shot down. Reads to me like **Nocktober** was asking a simple and honest question. ---
**Author:** ![photopat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e95f7d/32.png) [@photopat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/photopat)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2003, 5:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hollow-earth-disproof/155760/22 "2003-02-18T05:44:44Z")
You know, this thread made me think of the Flat Earth Society. I mean, a flat earth makes as much sense as a hollow one (I’m not talking about Discworld. That makes perfect sense). This seems like a fun website. I don’t think it’s to be taken too seriously, myself, but I haven’t read all of it, I’ve just skimmed. Including the disclaimer at the bottom of the front page. ---
**Author:** ![Nocktober](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/9de053/32.png) [@Nocktober](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nocktober)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2003, 8:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hollow-earth-disproof/155760/23 "2003-02-18T08:29:15Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Trigonal Planar \* > \*\*Guys, I’m not sure what the big fuss is here. I certainly didn’t get the impression he was posting _in support_ of the HET. I figured he was just thinking “Hmmm, I wonder how they know the earth isn’t hollow?” > > Maybe I’m wrong, but it seems it was just an innocent inquiry. \*\* Thank you, and Ogre as well. I’m interested in a concise rebuttal to this theory. I’m aware it sounds like a crackpot theory. There’s an intelligent and seemingly level-headed person who spoke about this and I’m not sure if she is putting me on or if she really believes it. ---
**Author:** ![Nocktober](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/9de053/32.png) [@Nocktober](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nocktober)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2003, 8:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hollow-earth-disproof/155760/24 "2003-02-18T08:34:05Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by scr4 \* > \*\*You’re missing the point. Science works by making observations and constructing theories to explain them. The so-called “hollow earth theory” does not attempt to explain any observed facts that I know of, so it’s not a valid theory to begin with and does not merit disproof. If someone came up to you and say “My theory is that invisible pink unicorns exist,” would you be obliged to disprove the existance? No, you’d first ask for evidence _for_ the existance of invisible pink unicorns because otherwise there is nothing to prove or disprove. \*\* That sounds reasonable to me. But if there were, for example, photographs taken by satellite from directly above the poles, this would prove the theory can’t possibly be true, right? I mean, we’re not attempting to prove that something doesn’t exist, just that it exist in one form and not the other. ---
**Author:** ![3trew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/3/13edae/32.png) [@3trew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/3trew)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2003, 9:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hollow-earth-disproof/155760/25 "2003-02-18T09:18:29Z")
A simple Socratic start for the mid-level conspiracy crowd. Q. Is the hollow earth inhabitted? Q. If it is, why did the U.S. government not have to issue a lot of material denying the Soviet claim to have found the people living in the Hollow Earth following a wonderfully Marxist way of life and living in perfect harmony? A hollow Earth has to have people living in it, otherwise it’s too boring to discuss, and I’ve never been able to get a good answer as to why the Russians didn’t rat out the fake Lunar landings long before the “We never landed on the moon” people got ahold of all those “doctored” photos. The Cold War, being full of real conspiracies and tending to polarize the fringe, makes a wonderful rhetorical tool. It sometimes works when physics doesn’t. Of course, it’s always possible that I’m a disinformationist for the Derros or the Secret Masters, so stick a couple of grains of salt on the end of your tongue and put it firmly in your cheek. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2003, 10:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hollow-earth-disproof/155760/26 "2003-02-18T10:25:51Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Tangent \* > **For instance, when there is an earthquack in Japan, some of the seismic waves will travel to, say, New York, by traveling along the surface of the earth, along the crust.** Does it echo though? (sorry). ---
**Author:** ![Siege](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dbc845/32.png) [@Siege](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siege)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2003, 11:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hollow-earth-disproof/155760/27 "2003-02-18T11:31:09Z")
> [@](#): > > _Originally posted by **Nocktober** _ > But if there were, for example, photographs taken by satellite from directly above the poles, this would prove the theory can’t possibly be true, right? I mean, we’re not attempting to prove that something doesn’t exist, just that it exist in one form and not the other. I started to talk about this exact point yesterday, but then I realized a hollow earth wouldn’t necessarily have to have entry points at the poles or anywhere else, so I decided to shut up. As you may have noticed, they have rather tough standards for debate around here. I’m not a geologist, but I’ll give this my best shot. I know there are people who know more about this than I do. Please feel free to correct me. Locating the epicenter of earthquakes is based on the idea that shockwaves generated by the earthquake radiate from the epicenter and can be detected at various points on the earth’s surface. If the earth were hollow, those measurements would be thrown off. Actually, as I started to work this out, I realize that the term “hollow earth” leaves a lot out. **Nocktober** , I’d ask the friend who brought this up for more information about what exactly his or her vision of a hollow earth entails. Here are the questions that occurred to me: [ul][li]Does the hollow earth consist of a sphere within a sphere, like a balloon blown up around another balloon, or is it just a single hollowed out layer?[/li][li]What does the “hollow” area consist of? Vacuum? Gas? Some other substance?[/li]Finally, since I did touch on it earlier, [li]Are there entry points to it, and if so, where would they be? They don’t necessarily have to be at the poles, you know. I think I remember coming across the idea that the caves at Delphi, Greece contained a possible entrance to a hollow earth.[/ul][/li] Does this help at all? CJ ---
**Author:** ![Grey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b782af/32.png) [@Grey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grey)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2003, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hollow-earth-disproof/155760/28 "2003-02-18T13:37:57Z")
Gravity tends to make a mess of this theory. Once you get a substantial amount of rock together it tends to form a solid ball. Everything tries to move to the centre. This is why stars, planets and the larger asteroids are all spherical. I can’t imagine a simple process of planetary glass blowing that could form a hollow sphere. Secondly sound travels through materials are differing speeds. The waves change speeds and reflect once they pass from 1 region of density A to a second region of density B. Global seismic stations record the arrival times of these waves and their reflections allowing the geophysicists to map the interior of the planet. It has become so refined that the old model of smooth transitions between regions (crust, mantel etc.) is out and newer models with specific locations of upwelling and down swellings of material are know. If the centre was hollow there would be a region that the seismic waves would pass through that could not be modeled as expected i.e. the arrival times would be wildly out of whack. ---
**Author:** ![andymurph64](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a88e57/32.png) [@andymurph64](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andymurph64)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2003, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hollow-earth-disproof/155760/29 "2003-02-18T15:38:17Z")
Of course the Earth is hollow. I’ve been there. There are scantily clad buxom babes down there to! ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2003, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hollow-earth-disproof/155760/30 "2003-02-18T16:43:58Z")
> [@](#): > > _Originally posted by **Tangent** :_ > For instance, when there is an _earthquack_ in Japan, some of the seismic waves will travel… Now I have this image of a colossal subterranean cosmic duck. Maybe the Hollow Earth is an _egg_… 🙂 Anyone ever read that science fantasy story _And Lo! The Bird_? ---
**Author:** ![rsa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/839c29/32.png) [@rsa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rsa)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2003, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hollow-earth-disproof/155760/31 "2003-02-18T18:17:09Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by andymurph64 \* > Of course the Earth is hollow. I’ve been there. > > There are scantily clad buxom babes down there to! And the entrance is where??? ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2003, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hollow-earth-disproof/155760/32 "2003-02-18T18:40:56Z")
When I was little, the horizon always looked curved to me, so I thought we lived inside the Earth. :o ---
**Author:** ![RM\_Mentock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e274bd/32.png) [@RM\_Mentock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RM_Mentock)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2003, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hollow-earth-disproof/155760/33 "2003-02-18T19:20:46Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by rsa \* > \*\*And the entrance is where??? \*\* Mount Sneffels, duh. ---
**Author:** ![photopat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e95f7d/32.png) [@photopat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/photopat)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2003, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hollow-earth-disproof/155760/34 "2003-02-18T19:22:48Z")
Proof that wacky pseudoscientific theories never die, they just move to the web. ---
**Author:** ![jshore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b5e925/32.png) [@jshore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jshore)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2003, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hollow-earth-disproof/155760/35 "2003-02-18T19:25:22Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Nocktober \* > Thank you, and Ogre as well. I’m interested in a concise rebuttal to this theory. I’m aware it sounds like a crackpot theory. There’s an intelligent and seemingly level-headed person who spoke about this and I’m not sure if she is putting me on or if she really believes it. The problem with trying to address questions like this is similar to the creation / young earth theory. I mean it is hard to point to one single thing that speaks against the theory because there is simply so much science…physics and geology…that goes into understanding what the core of the earth is like. Basically, a huge body of science would have to be simply wrong and, some if it, like gravity, is so well understood that it is just ridiculous that this would be the case. The point is that theories are seriously constrained by the plethora of observations we have made of the world around it. One can’t just throw out a new theory and say “What about this idea?” It is basically a waste of everybody’s time. ---
**Author:** ![photopat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e95f7d/32.png) [@photopat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/photopat)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2003, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hollow-earth-disproof/155760/36 "2003-02-18T20:17:01Z")
Oops. I didn’t mean theories, I meant delusions. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2003, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hollow-earth-disproof/155760/37 "2003-02-18T20:31:23Z")
I can’t believe no one has mentioned Pellucidar, Edgar Rice Burroughs’ land in the hollow earth with dinosaurs and scantily clad women. Tarzan even visited in one book. IIRC, those who first claimed that the earth was hollow said that Admiral Byrd flew over the entrance on his flight over the poles. Of course that was before it became a heavily traveled route. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2003, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hollow-earth-disproof/155760/38 "2003-02-18T21:57:49Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Nocktober \* > \*\*There’s an intelligent and seemingly level-headed person who spoke about this and I’m not sure if she is putting me on or if she really believes it. \*\* Concise rebuttal: Point and laugh. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2003, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hollow-earth-disproof/155760/39 "2003-02-18T23:21:10Z")
**Vger:** \*I can’t believe no one has mentioned Pellucidar, Edgar Rice Burroughs’ land in the hollow earth with dinosaurs and scantily clad women. \* And don’t miss Jules Verne’s [Journey to the Center of the Earth](http://jv.gilead.org.il/vt/c_earth/), also with dinosaurs as well as fossil remains of giant humans. Oooo. No chicks, though. ---
**Author:** ![David\_B](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/51bf81/32.png) [@David\_B](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/David_B)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2003, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hollow-earth-disproof/155760/40 "2003-02-19T02:46:58Z")
Nocktober said: > [@](#): > > I’m interested in a concise rebuttal to this theory. I’m aware it sounds like a crackpot theory. There’s an intelligent and seemingly level-headed person who spoke about this and I’m not sure if she is putting me on or if she really believes it. For the future, I would suggest that you should put information like this in the **first** post so people know exactly what it is you’re talking about and why. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hollow-earth-disproof/155760.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hollow-earth-disproof/155760.md?page=3)