I came across this while browsing the web, and wondered what the wise folk of SD might have to say. Ignoring all the paranormal BS associated with this story, how deep would a hole have to be, not to be able to hear objects hit the bottom?
Mel’s Hole at wikipedia.
Sound will carry a long ways through a pipe.
Okay, I’ll lower my standards and allow the non-wise, the averagely smart, and complete whack-jobs to take part.
Well if the temp rises approx 1 degree F for every 60 feet of depth inot the earth and nylon fishing line melts at approximately 500 degrees Fahrenheit you’re at the absolute temp failure point of the monofilament at 30,000 feet of 5.68 miles.
It’s all bullshit from a bullshitter.
Whew, I had unbelievably unpleasant expectations of a thread about Mel Brooks’ nether regions.
Sorry Astro, but perhaps you should have read the entire paragraph where your first link came from?
( The second link didn’t even work.)
Bullshit from a bullshitter???
P.S. I’d still love to know how far a hole has to go down, not to be able to hear things hit the bottom?
I can’t remember where it was, but I read not long ago of a cave that was reputed to be bottomless because you couldn’t hear a stone hit the bottom when you threw it in. When someone eventually explored it, they found it was actually not that deep at all, but had a thick layer of soft mud in the bottom.
Second link works fine for me , but if your browser is having issues the quote is listed below.
Re depth per the degree F rise per 60 ft you are corrrect in that it will not work as a linear index of temperature past a certain point, but as a real world assumption of temperate at depth it works well enough within the the 15 mile range being claimed by the crackpot cited in the OP. The bottom line is that the nylon fishing line would be toasted well before he got even close to the depths being claimed for his magical hole.
An army base guarding a bottomless hole with supernatural properties? A made-for-SciFi movie! 
Well, that beats my vision of Mel Gibson’s.
On a slight tangent, assuming it had been found, what would you like to throw down it to test it’s ‘supernatural’ powers?
I’d like to sling some Adventists and Creationists down there; not just to try and transform them, but to see how many it would take to fill up the hole.
[Moderating]
ivan, in case you are not aware of it, religious jabs of this kind are not permitted in General Questions. Please read the forum rules in the first sticky at the top of the page. Refrain from these kinds of remarks in the future.
Colibri
General Questions Moderator
Considering the fantasy element in my question, I thought my suggestion might have been treated with the lack of seriousness it deserved. Religious folk need to be thicker skinned if they are offended by such a comment.
Yeah, that was a real knee-slapper. Just abide by the rules here. If you don’t agree with them, you’re free to open a thread in ATMB or the Pit to discuss it. Don’t make comments of this kind in GQ in the future, and don’t continue this discussion here.
Even if the fishing line wouldn’t melt, and even if that length of line could support its own weight, how would you know when you’d bottomed out? For shallow holes, there’s a change in tension once part of the weight is supported by the bottom, but with that much line, that’d be negligible.