• Question: what will happen if we reach the earths core

    Asked by charliet to Alastair, Emma, Hywel, Keith on 23 Jun 2010 in Categories: .
    • Photo: Alastair Sloan

      Alastair Sloan answered on 23 Jun 2010:

      Hi Charlie

      At the Earth’s core we would find a solid sphere of iron-nickel like material – at a temperature something like as hot as the sun!!

    • Photo: Keith Brain

      Keith Brain answered on 23 Jun 2010:

      Here are some features of interest:

      – You’ll be very hot!
      – it will feel like you’re floating in space without any gravity – at centre of the earth there is no (net) gravitational field from the earth.
      – a compass will still point in a direction, but if I’ve got the direction of the field lines right … the “north” arrow will point to the “south” pole.
      – the material around you will be solid
      – If you’ve tunneled in, unless you put some sort of pressure lock on the top of your tunnel, you will be under very high pressure, even if you’ve made solid walls for the tunnel. The reason for this is that you have an enormous column of air “above” you, squashing you. Normal air pressure is generated because we have an atmosphere above us, and most of the air is within about 20km of sea level. But at the centre of the earth, the height of the air above you is equal to the radius of the earth, or about 6000km. Very very very roughly, this means a pressure of about 6000km/20km = 300 times the pressure on the surface of the earth (I’ve ignored the fact that the gravitational field changes along the tunnel). Note that the pressure of the “undisturbed” center of the earth is even higher – it will be very hard to keep your tunnel wall from being crushed.

      So, an interesting place to be, but not very comfortable.

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