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

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. :-)"

Comments

umm... yeah

[cr@ckwhore]

Something tells me that FSCKING WITH THE EARTH'S CORE IS NOT A GREAT IDEA! HOLY FUCKING SHIT.

Anyone else get the same vibe, or am I alone on this one? derp.

The Hole Will Close Back Up...

[$$$$$exyGal]

This though experiment also assumes that the hole doesn't just close back up within 50 milliseconds. Even if this probe were to continue burrowing downwards, after it hit several miles down, I imagine that the empty space above it would simply fill back in.

This is especially true if the probe just "burns" through whatever is beneath it. Even though the probe is passing through the "burnt" earth, that doesn't mean the burnt earth doesn't just re-solidify after the probe passes through it.