What is Digg?59 Comments
- Protagonist, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Some tunnels are even faster by using a curved tunnel:
http://www.gi.alaska.edu/ScienceForum/ASF5/547.html - iluvdrbonner, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3Little Interesting that the speed is 42.. I mean maybe that is the answer to Life the Universe and Everything?
- RevnCliffie, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Hmmmmmmm And you though getting stuck on a broke down Metro Rail was bad now.
- willrawls, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1This has GOT to be one of the oldest diggs.. :) I mean, it only took 600 years to make it to the digg front page :)
- Observer, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1"easy... just use a flux capacitor"
St00pid the Flux Capacitor is used for time travel...Geeze ;P - sfacets, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Magma! Not Lava... Lava is Magma out of the ground ;)
- Bega, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Even if it was possible, I doubt a human being could withstand the g-forces.
- adam8281, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1When I was a kid I started digging a hole to China. I haven't worked on it for some time, but maybe I should get back to it.
- birdadderley, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0"hmm, and how exactly do you dig a tunnel through the Earth?"
easy... just use a flux capacitor - burke, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Maybe if we could make it with Magnetic Levitation and Vacuum Seal the tunnel... Otherwise it will most definitely require fuel :)
- cool4u2view, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Instead of using the Earth's gravitational pull why not advance humanity by figuring out how to manipulate gravity this would give us infinite capabilities with regards to energy production and transportation...
- treelovinhippie, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0hmm, and how exactly do you dig a tunnel through the Earth?
How do you avoid lava build ups, gas pockets, the heat, the movement of the plates etc etc?
Teleportation is better and more feasible, we just need another Einstein to figure it out. - alexanderhazard, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Won't work , earth's core temperature is enough to melt the train instantly
- PoorYorick, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Out here in Seattle, we can't even get our government to repair our existing roads, let alone build a tunnel to Paris.
- rm999, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0"Instead of using the Earth's gravitational pull why not advance humanity by figuring out how to manipulate gravity this would give us infinite capabilities with regards to energy production"
I think there is a law against this. Oh yeah, it's called the second law of thermodynamics! Also, you would have a hard time patenting the idea because the patent office refuses to consider perpetual motion machines.
"Lisa, in this house we obey the laws of thermdynamics!" - stevesearer, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Thats much to long for a trip to the kitchen to get some chips and salsa.
- ,,|,_, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0^^"cool theory but it's not possible" - posted by nate007 (0) at 09:59 PM 10/31/05
I bet a lot of people said that harnessing electricity, about crossing the Atlantic in an airplane, about miniaturization of computers, about sending man to the moon... You get my drift, nothing is unpossible! - oxigen, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0That was pretty interesting. The only problem, of course, being the whole not melting thing. I also fear such tunnels bored through the earth (if ever made) would disrupt earth's magnetic field somehow.
- Tonyisbad, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0If only we could get around that pesky problem of magma, pressure, heat, um hmmm the fact that we all live on moving tectonic plates. what else oh yeah how the hell would you build it, maintain it, and have people willing to go through the earth (once again THROUGH THE EARTH) to get to the other side in 42min. some ideas are like what! Even the idea of traveling through a worm hole seems better, actually about the same in insanity, yeah lets travel inside a collapsed star where time is at stand still and you are strecthed practically molecule thin, yeah bang up idea folks, give me a holla when you figure out cold fusion...
- pentomino, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I'd like to see a proof-of-concept gravity train that goes across, say, a room or a shopping mall in that time.
Unless it turns out the only way to do that is to dig the route straight through the core and back. - rerun, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0"Go ANYWHERE in 42 Minutes and 12 Seconds -- Without Fuel"
I believe the kids refer to this as "getting really baked" - .Steven, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0log a = a/5
What does a equal? - rm999, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1I have a proposal: everytime a wikipedia article gets dugg to the front page, several users deface the article with the goatsecx man or something until either the wikipedia blocks digg referalls or digg blocks wikipedia links. Then the whole world will be happier.
- Gotar, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1GRAAAAAAAAAAAVITY TRAIN! With Don Cornelius!
- msgmsg, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Sure, i'd risk my behind just to get there a few hours faster.
- number8888, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0You mean I could visit my neighbor's house in 42 minutes and 12 seconds too? Sweet! :)
- baltakatei, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Well, at least we'll have a feasible way of transport for when the earth cools off. ^_^
- duke_nate, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Just think, if somehow they could actually make a tunnel straight through the center of the earth that could shield you from all the heat, and they had a way of removing all the air from the tunnel, to get rid of friction, you could actually jump right into the tunnel and free fall for 20 minutes and have enough speed to come flying out the other side.
Seems like a hell of a way to go to work in the morning...in china... Saves on gas too! - puny_midget, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Would it work on a much smaller scale? Like between cities or countries? I imagine you wouldn't have to dig too deep to go from one side of Australia (or whatever) to the other...
- x3n1, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Not to mention the HUGE rock that is kinda, well is sorta BLOCKING the destination... its not like you can freely traverse through any point of the earth as if it were made of ether
until someone posts an article on transforming the earth/rock/matter in an ether,... NO DIGG. - noamsml, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0theoreticlally cool, though not all that applicable.
- narbs, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Anyone enjoy 7200 metres per second? That's one hell of a dip in the middle.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0So if I dig a gravity train from my house to my neighboors, it will take 42 minutes?
- Flashman, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0"Even if it was possible, I doubt a human being could withstand the g-forces."
Er... even if it went straight down, you'd never be accelerating at more than one G. As you approached the halfway point, acceleration would drop towards zero as speed maxed out. Maximum acceleration would be at either end - and you'd never weigh more than you do standing on the Earth's surface. - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0You gonna need some wicked A/C in that train. (teh center of teh earth gets teh wicked hott)
- eclectro, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0^^Yeah, there is that molten rock problem. I guess it would be like surfing a lava flow.
- senseigmg, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0oldie but somewhat goodie, did this in my 8th grade math class.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0"Not to mention the HUGE rock that is kinda, well is sorta BLOCKING the destination... its not like you can freely traverse through any point of the earth as if it were made of ether
until someone posts an article on transforming the earth/rock/matter in an ether,... NO DIGG"
ever heard of a wormhole?
http://www.geek2us.net/bogeydope
-theman - h0lyHandGrenade, on 02/20/2008, -0/+0So if there was a whole going from one end of the earth to the other (aka USA to China) and I fell down that hole, I wouldnt die? I would go really fast, then begin to slow down and land lightly in China... that would be fun...free fall for 42 minutes...i bet some parachute base jumpers would like that idea...let's get digging folks...hopefully the magma center of our planet won't burn our asses. duh.
- capran, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0"Won't work , earth's core temperature is enough to melt the train instantly"
And don't forget the pressure. Forget about the core, you'd never even make it more than a short way through the crust, which is only 11 miles or so thick. The heat and pressure would kill you long before you reached even the mantle.
It's an interesting idea, but it requires far too many exotic technologies to make it work:
1) the ability to dig a tunnel all the way through the earth: the deepest bore holes are only a few miles deep.
2) the ability to protect such a train from the heat and pressure. There are ways to mitigate the heat, but I don't think there's anything you can do about the pressure.
3) some method of reducing or negating friction for a tunnel thats thousands of miles long. An ordinary railroad track won't work here folks, never mind that it'd take forever to build (never mind how long it would take to build the tunnel!) And magnetic levitation rail lines are ridiculously expensive to build, which is why there aren't many of them.
All in all, it would take too much new technology to be invented (some of which might not even be possible) and too much time and money to build this. Efforts that would be better spent on other pursuits.
For one thing, some day virtual reality technology, as in The Matrix, paired with robotic dummies that you could remote control, will allow you to "travel" instantly anywhere on the planet, as long as they have these dummies ready. Or skip the physical element and live entirely in the matrix, and you'd no longer be bound by the rules of physics in that world.
This is an interesting thought experiment, but nothing more. I believe computer technology will eventually make travel obsolete. - Punisher2K, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Too bad acceleration and deceleration will kill you. So the goo that WAS you can do it.
- Whosawhatsis, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0For the Earth, no, it doesn't make sense. But for a Dyson Sphere or Ringworld-type environment, I could see something like this being very useful.
- FriedGeek, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Uh. Nice idea, but, um, NO.
Cool science tho. Dugg. - duke_nate, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0(So if there was a whole going from one end of the earth to the other (aka USA to China) and I fell down that hole, I wouldnt die? I would go really fast, then begin to slow down and land lightly in China)
Only if there was no friction. They you wouldnt hit your terminal velocity like skydivers do. I would hate to miss the ledge in china and have to fall all the way back, or worse get stuck in the center of the planet from not having enough speed to make it out either side;) - Starboy1701, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Just more proof that wikipedia sucks. Their math is wrong.
"The maximum speed is reached at the middle point of the trajectory. For a train that goes directly through the center of the Earth, this maximum speed is about 7,900 metres per second"
7900 meters a second is only 25918.6352 feet per second which is only 4.9088324 miles per second which would be only 294.529945 miles per hour. I don't know how you are ever going to across the planet in 42 minutes if your max speed is only 294 miles an hour. I think they meant to say kilometers per second. Not only that they can't even spell meters check the quote. LOL - duke_nate, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0(7900 meters a second is only 25918.6352 feet per second which is only 4.9088324 miles per second which would be only 294.529945 miles per hour. I don't know how you are ever going to across the planet in 42 minutes if your max speed is only 294 miles an hour. I think they meant to say kilometers per second. Not only that they can't even spell meters check the quote. LOL)
Sorry but you are wrong. 4.9 miles per second = 294 miles per MINUTE = 17640 miles per HOUR. that = fast. - Icefreez, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0And if you don't compensate enough to get you back to the surface of the earth.. You just keep going back and forth untill you are stick in the middle of the tunnel.
Hmm I think it would take a long time to get back out from there on motors alone.... - Bluezdood, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0gay
- drysz, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0No Digg. Friends don't let friends Digg wikipedia articles.
- sfacets, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0ummm... did you know there is this substance called MAGMA... it's pretty darn hot.
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