gravity

[taffinnorfol]

How long would it take to fall through a hole which goes through the centre of the Earth?

[naz_nomad]

Without the obvious ''getting fried in the Earths core'' answer, you couldn't ... as soon as you got past the centre, gravity would pull you back ... so you'd end up stuck in the middle

[-=BigD=-]

surely you be going a far old whack and fly out the other side a bit then fly back and forth for a bit until you stopped in the middle?

[-=BigD=-]

Bosh:
"All objects are attracted to the centre of the Earth.

If the hole runs through the centre it will be rather like pulling a pendulum to one side and allowing it to settle, the pendulum oscillating back and forth. Thus you would fall in a straight line accelerating towards the centre then deccelerating away from the centre until you, almost reach the other side of the earth and your velocity is zero. Then you will be drawn back, accelerating and deccelerating again, to almost where you originally fell. Each journey back and forth like the pendulum gets shorter and shorter until you settle stationery at the centre of the earth. This is due to the fact that there is air in the hole which provides friction or drag. Such motion is called Damped Harmonic Motion (if the hole was in vacuum then your would not settle at the centre but would continue to execute a full simple harmonic motion)

Holes not going through the centre have similar effects but you would fall in a curve and bump the side of the hole half way down, as the earth trys to attract you to its centre. You will again end up half way down the hole but stuck to the side which is closest to the earth's centre."

[-=BigD=-]

Oh and it would take 42 mins to the other side on the fist "jump".

http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/mec hanics/earthole.html

[kujawski]

is that in a vacuum,

would it be faster if you wore a skin tight rubber outfit.

[stevie21]

No but that'd at least ensure you felt sexy and confident while you were doing it

[Thicko2006]

If the hole goes through the centre there is no centre, therefore there can be no gravitational pull from the centre.

[topogigo]

The centre must be a "calculative" or" virtual" type centre,THICKO, it would have to be or the question would be silly. Oh dear, the question is fairly silly anyway.