Question...

[Maxwell]

If there was a hole straight through the Earth, and you were to jump right down it, would you keep falling? Or would something push you back up?

This is a debate a few of us are having.

Thank you.

[Chen]

Depends on a lot of things, but if it was just a basic hole and you neglect gasses and pressure and stuff, you would be driven into an harmonic motion - you would fall all the way down to the other side of Earth, then back to the first side, and so on and so forth.

[Kurdt]

If there were a resistance from air say for sake of arguement then the motion would be damped and you should eventually come to rest at the earths centre.

[Integral]

You also need to assume a not rotating earth, if the earth is rotating you will hit the sides of hole very quickly. So with no rotation and no air resistance you would become a permanent yo-yo oscillating from one side of the earth to the other. (How long can you hold your breath?). If the earth rotates, you be come a grease smear on the side of the hole. With no rotation and air resistance you would bounce a few times but ultimately end up weightless at the center of the earth.
(How do you dig a hole thorough a molten core?)

[Kurdt]

You would set up magnetic field generators so that the molten ions could not penetrate.

[pallidin]

You would set up magnetic field generators so that the molten ions could not penetrate.

I wonder if a magnetic field could even be made powerful enough to handle that scenario. :eek:
Maybe a 100-foot thick wall of a titanium/ carbon composite tube could handle it.
But, oh my, what an expensive joy ride! And a stellar class volcano if insertion goes wrong!

[Nereid]

But wait!

Does the Earth rotate as a solid body? All the way from the solid core, through the liquid core, the mantle, to the crust? If not, how long would pallidin's 100' thick walls last?