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Falling to Earth's Core in a Big Blob of Iron

Posted by timothy on from the but-i-do-this-every-day dept.

Colin Douglas Howell writes "Um...wow. I found this idea via the BBC, (see also the Nature article), but it's really worth reading the annotated paper on the subject. (Gotta love the title.) Basically, you drill a hole in the crust, blast a big crack in it, inject a huge mass of molten iron with a little probe floating inside (made out of material which won't melt or dissolve in the iron), and let the iron mass sink to the core by gravity, carrying the probe with it. (The initial crack grows downward as the iron sinks.) As the probe falls, it sends data back using seismic signals that can be picked up with a gravitational wave observatory like LIGO, but coupled to the ground. Of course, there are enormous problems with the whole thing, but it's still cool to read about. To me, the idea is even neater because it was dreamed up by Dave Stevenson, one of my old professors (and one of the best professors I've ever had). I hope he doesn't mind being Slashdotted. :-)"

6 of 306 comments (clear)

  1. And that's how the Earth broke in two by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    And everyone on the planet was killed. So, children, remember, don't try to drill to the center of your planet without the proper tools.

    Alien 4th Grade Class on "History of Stupid Mistakes"

  2. Retro-revenge. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    "To me, the idea is even neater because it was dreamed up by Dave Stevenson, one of my old professors (and one of the best professors I've ever had). I hope he doesn't mind being Slashdotted. :-)""

    That's easy for you to say. You already have your degree.

  3. Blob of Iron? More like a slashdotted server by Onetus · · Score: 5, Funny

    Guess they won't need to find a blob of iron.
    The slashdotting the server will receive ought to help melt it and the floor beneath it.

    Off goes the server, down, down, down ...

  4. A wireless probe? by Anonymous+Custard · · Score: 5, Funny

    They've found a way to get a wireless probe to connect from the middle of a molten ball of iron deep in the center of the earth, but I still can't get my cellphone to work in the subway.

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  5. The big question is - by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Won't that disturb the people who live inside the earth? They may be aliens, but they have rights, too.

  6. One big problem by dackroyd · · Score: 5, Funny

    Won't making a crack this big in the Earths surface let all the gravity out ?

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