If you dig all the way down, can you get out of the other side of the earth?

Mondo Science Updated on 2024-01-31

There may be a hint of fun in this idea, but for most people, the answer may lie in the depths of the ocean.

However, is there a possibility that we will be able to dig through the Earth and then eject from the other side?

Historically, there have indeed been many teams that have bravely gone deep into the bosom of the earth with such dreams.

Recently, our country launched an ambitious plan to dig a hole in the earth to a depth of more than 10,000 meters. This is the most far-reaching attempt ever made.

By excavating 10 layers of rock, the research team hopes to find rocks from the Cretaceous period, known as the Cretaceous system, which dates back to 14.5 billion years ago.

The cave is impressive, however, it is not the deepest man-made cave on Earth. The distinction belongs to the Kola ultra-deep drill hole on the Kola Peninsula in northwestern Russia.

The project, which began on May 24, 1970 and lasted shortly after the collapse of the Soviet Union, reached its deepest branch to 12,263 meters below the surface.

The research team found in the rocks deep that they were wetter than they expected. They didn't think the water would penetrate the rocks to such depths, but the truth was a surprise for them.

In the Kola ultra-deep drill hole, they found metamorphic granite beneath igneous granite, rather than the basalt layer beneath the continental granite they expected.

As deep as that sounds, neither the Kola ultra-deep drilling team nor the new team in China have yet to break through the Earth's lithosphere and reach the mantle.

The earth's crust on land is variable, with an average thickness of about 30 km, but under the mountains, its thickness can reach a staggering 100 km. Underneath the ocean, the thickness of the earth's crust varies little, averaging about 6-7 km.

Although there is less crust to dig into on the seabed, factors such as keeping the drill bit stable make the process extremely complex.

One of the main challenges is the unbearable high pressure and high temperatures.

According to Doug Wilson, a research geophysicist at the University of California, Santa Barbara, for every 3 meters of downward movement, an additional air pressure is added (because you are going deeper into the Earth's core, not away from it).

As you move about 6,370 kilometers deeper into the Earth's core, the pressure on you will be greater than you think. To be precise, the pressure reached a staggering 1,179,423,669,639,374,797 hPa (hPa), while the standard pressure at sea level was only 1013 hpa.

Imagine that under such pressure, the air and you may turn into superfluid. Your drilling rig will also face insurmountable heat tests. The temperature of the core is up to 5200 degrees Celsius.

Wilson suggested cooling the drill bit by pumping water continuously, but when it came to the outer core, it would be incredibly tough. At this point, it is as if you are drilling through a core of liquid iron and nickel.

Even though your equipment may have been hardened, if you're able to traverse this iron and nickel core, you'll be briefly rewarded with weightlessness.

In this magical journey, the mass of the earth pulls equally on you in all directions, and then you will begin your long upward crawl.

What awaits you on the other side?Another unknown world, perhaps. I'm a tech creator

[Popular Articles in Previous Issues].

Why does gravity pull us down instead of up?

Nature's horrors: bizarre behavior manipulated by fungi and how it dominates nature's creatures.

Endless heat, unimaginable pressure and surprising diamonds: all under our feet!

Related Pages