The Science of a Bottomless Pit

StartsWithABang writes It's the ultimate dream of many children with time on their hands and their first leisurely attempt at digging: to go clear through the Earth to the other side, creating a bottomless pit. Most of us don't get very far in practice, but in theory, it should be possible to construct one, and consider what would happen to a very clever test subject who took all the proper precautions, and jumped right in. Here's what you would have to do to travel clear through the Earth, come out the other side, and make the return trip to right back where you started.

Comments

Re:(looks straight down)

[GTRacer]

Silly but seriosly-asked question - in the discussion of the relative height-from-center differences, has anyone taken the gravitic center into account? Isn't that what's most important, since that will determine when acceleration changes direction?

Since the gravitic center is essentially the Earth's center of mass, do we know if that point is dead-center? Given the differences in crust thickness, ocean placement, mountains, etc...?

Do I need to get more coffee?