Author Topic: What would happen, if  (Read 982 times)

Offline Rash

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What would happen, if
« on: September 23, 2011, 08:29:08 PM »
Say I could drill a hole through the North to South axis of the Earth.  I didn't have to worry about hot LAVA or different air pressure between North or South.  It's a straight shot from North to South and I drop a can of beer through the North side of this hole.  Will my friend Sebastian be able to catch this can of beer on the South end?
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Offline skorpion

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Re: What would happen, if
« Reply #1 on: September 23, 2011, 08:30:32 PM »
Say I could drill a hole through the North to South axis of the Earth.  I didn't have to worry about hot LAVA or different air pressure between North or South.  It's a straight shot from North to South and I drop a can of beer through the North side of this hole.  Will my friend Sebastian be able to catch this can of beer on the South end?
i think so, but it'd be coming through pretty damn fast. so he might want a glove...

Offline Rash

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Re: What would happen, if
« Reply #2 on: September 23, 2011, 08:32:31 PM »
It should start slowing down, once it goes past the center?  Will it even make it to him?
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Offline skorpion

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Re: What would happen, if
« Reply #3 on: September 23, 2011, 08:39:03 PM »
It should start slowing down, once it goes past the center?  Will it even make it to him?

well theres still gravity pulling it to him right?

Offline Rash

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Re: What would happen, if
« Reply #4 on: September 23, 2011, 08:40:53 PM »
Once it goes past half way, the center of mass will be behind the bottle.  I don't know the answer, just pondering.
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Offline skorpion

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Re: What would happen, if
« Reply #5 on: September 23, 2011, 08:44:51 PM »
Once it goes past half way, the center of mass will be behind the bottle.  I don't know the answer, just pondering.

you see why kids are so stupid these days? in science class we dont learn this, noooo...we learn about cirrus clouds. :rolleyes:

honestly, teach something that will be useful in life school districts!!! :furious

Offline Rash

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Re: What would happen, if
« Reply #6 on: September 23, 2011, 08:51:17 PM »
Would it matter if I dropped it from the North or South pole?
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Offline skorpion

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Re: What would happen, if
« Reply #7 on: September 23, 2011, 08:56:48 PM »
Would it matter if I dropped it from the North or South pole?
i dont really think it would considering gravity works both ways.

Offline clerick

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Re: What would happen, if
« Reply #8 on: September 23, 2011, 08:58:29 PM »
He would probably never get it. Ignoring temperatures etc. the can would accelerate towards the center of the Earth, gaining speed until it hits terminal velocity. Once it passes the center it would start being pulled back towards the center.  Think of it as a pendulum, starting at one height but never quite making it back to that same height as is swings back and forth until it eventually comes to rest at the center of the Earth.

Offline PFactorDave

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Re: What would happen, if
« Reply #9 on: September 23, 2011, 08:59:38 PM »
He would probably never get it. Ignoring temperatures etc. the can would accelerate towards the center of the Earth, gaining speed until it hits terminal velocity. Once it passes the center it would start being pulled back towards the center.  Think of it as a pendulum, starting at one height but never quite making it back to that same height as is swings back and forth until it eventually comes to rest at the center of the Earth.


^This is correct.  Terminal velocity and friction would prevent the can from maintaing enough energy to overcome gravity on the second half of the trip.

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Offline Rash

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Re: What would happen, if
« Reply #10 on: September 23, 2011, 09:07:04 PM »
theoretically, it's just a vacuum tube delivery system for beer.  Like sears use to have.  Same all the way through, North to South.
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Offline Rash

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Re: What would happen, if
« Reply #11 on: September 23, 2011, 09:09:20 PM »
^This is correct.  Terminal velocity and friction would prevent the can from maintaing enough energy to overcome gravity on the second half of the trip.

This is a answer, after 10 or so seconds, it's not going to fall any faster.
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Offline Meatwad

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Re: What would happen, if
« Reply #12 on: September 23, 2011, 09:13:01 PM »
Once it hits the center of the planet, the forward velocity would reach 0 and it would just sit at the core of the planet until crushed by the gravity

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Offline eagl

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Re: What would happen, if
« Reply #13 on: September 23, 2011, 09:16:24 PM »
Coriolis forces (yea, spelling, I know) from the earth's slight wobble as it rotates would cause the can to rub on the side of the hole so there would be some energy losses both dropping to the center and coasting on the way back up on the far side.  Even if those forces are very small, the can would climb to just below the distance from the center of the earth's mass as it was dropped.  Assuming a perfectly spherical earth with uniform density (which is not actually true), if the can was dropped from the exact entrance to the hole, it would not quite make it back up to the surface on the far side.  It would cycle back and forth until those very small energy losses cancelled out all of the can's potential energy (dist from earth multiplied by mass) and the can would then be at rest in the center of mass.  Of course, all that energy would be dissipated as heat, absorbed partially by the can and partially by the side of the hole (the earth).  So it would increase the overall heat of the earth.  If you look at the total amount of energy in a can at the surface of the earth relative to it's position at the center of the earth, that's a heck of a lot of heat so unless there was a way to shed all that heat, the can would likely be vaporized long before it quit moving. 

Of course, that assumes that all of the air in the hole is evacuated so the can is falling through vacuum.  Although this is impossible, it is no more impossible than the original premise of drilling a hole straight through anyhow.

A can-sized object falling to earth from orbit would vaporize from air friction fairly high up in the atmosphere, and that's just the energy being dissipated from an orbit a couple hundred miles up.

Now if the hole was filled with air pressurized to the "sea level" (again impossible), the can would reach terminal velocity somewhere around 200 miles per hour and so it would be effectively braking the entire way down.  So it would climb maybe a few hundred feet on the far side of the earth's core and stabilize at the center a lot faster.

If the air increases pressure on the way down to the center of the earth, the can will crumple and turn into a little hot wad of metal, and again probably vaporize from the heat and pressure.  Then again, at the pressures present at the center of the earth, I think oxygen and nitrogen turns into a liquid and acts like a metal, so that is sort of a silly condition.

So...  Lots of different answers depending on your assumptions.
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Offline Krupinski

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Re: What would happen, if
« Reply #14 on: September 23, 2011, 09:18:03 PM »
Ignoring every factor, wouldn't it climb the same distance it fell? Like the ramp/marble experiment... two ramps same height one going down other going up... drop the marble down one and it'll stop at the same height on the other ramp it was released, if that makes any sense.