Proving again .. the answer to life, the universe and everything.

Anyone know the math on this one?

http://www.ponderabout.com/archives/1534/jumping-into-a-7964-mile-deep-hole/

*travel

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That's probably neglecting friction. With air/rail friction, you wouldn't quite make it to the other side.

screw air travel, i'm takin the tunnel.

I remember there being a transformers episode about drilling through the earth and how it would destroy the planet

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How many roads must a man walk down?

>> ^cheesemoo:
That's probably neglecting friction. With air/rail friction, you wouldn't quite make it to the other side.

You could counter this by creating a vacuum in the tunnel and levitating the craft on magnetic rails. But it is still just an interesting mathematical idea. It could never be done unless some hyper advanced technology comes along. No drill can withstand the temperatures and pressures down there, let alone a tunnel.

A better idea is to make an above ground (or slightly below ground) vacuum tunnel with maglev trains. In this scenario the craft could keep accelerating until it reaches the midpoint where is will have to start decelerating. Depending on the G forces the occupants find acceptable, you could go faster than the 42 minute scenario. It would also be very energy efficient because there are only slight losses to air friction (a perfect vacuum is impossible) and maintaining the vacuum. Most of the energy expended in accelerating can be recovered in the deceleration phase.

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Let's take it to the extreme: If I went this side of the street to the other side of the street, would that also take 42 minutes?