The Answer to life, the universe, and everything?

Question

Alright in the book Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy a super computer was built to determine the answer to the Ultimate Question. The answer happened to be 42. I think I might have stumbled on how that answer came about. A hypothetical question is posed, "How long would it take to fall from one side of the earth to the other if you built a tunnel straight through?" The answer is always 42 minutes no matter where on the earth the tunnel is being dug from or to. Anybody have any thoughts on this possibly being the place he Douglas Adams got his number?

This source states that it will take 42 minutes to fall from one side to the other.

http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/Hbase/mechanics/earthole.html

Answer 1

I am not sure. But, it is a good surmise.

Only Douglas Adams can tell how he chose that number, but unfortunately, he is no more. Maybe, the publishers have a clue ...

Whenever you do find the origin of this, do let us know ... :)

EDIT:

Response to above answers ... 42 might be important to the Universe because after all, this Earth ("the small out of way planet") was the greatest computer ever made to determine "the question".

And, what's better than to "program the answer" in the makeup of the computer designed to find "the question". And, hence 42 ...

Off-track: Speaking of finding the question to an answer ... reminds me of the show Jeopardy. And, really how much jeopardy the planet Earth in acc. to H2G2!!!

Answer 2

That site makes a lot of bad assumptions to get their number.

Such as a human staying alive, while falling through vacuum. In the Earth's atmosphere, a falling human being's terminal velocity is around 125 MPH (200 KPH)  

"Most people quote 55 m/s (about 125 miles per hour) as the terminal velocity of a parachuter. This is a typical terminal velocity, but there are several factors that can contribute to the terminal velocity of a human.

Terminal velocity is the speed at which a falling object no longer accelerates while falling. As every grade school science student can tell you, all objects fall at the same rate in a vaccum (or more correctly, accelerate at the same rate). However, in an atmosphere, drag comes into play. Falling through air causes drag proportional to the cross sectional area of the object falling. When the drag forces offset the weight of the object (mass times gravitational acceleration), terminal velocity is reached.

A parachuter can spread out their arms and legs to increase drag resulting in the a terminal velocity of about 55 m/s. If the parachuter tucked in his arms and legs and curled up into a ball, then terminal velocity would be much faster. A parachuter wearing special equipment and diving head first or feet first with arms clasped tight against their side, can achieve terminal velocities over 90 m/s (200 miles per hour).

The fastest speed a human has ever attained while free falling was set by Joseph Kittinger, who, in 1960, jumped from over 31,000 m (over 101,000 ft). Because of the rarity of the atmosphere at those elevations, there was almost no drag during the first part of his fall. Kittinger reached a terminal velocity of 274 m/s (over 610 miles per hour) before he began to slow down with the increasing atmosphere."

Further, Adams DID explain why he chose 42:

"The answer to this is very simple. It was a joke. It had to be a number, an ordinary, smallish number, and I chose that one. Binary representations, base thirteen, Tibetan monks are all complete nonsense. I sat at my desk, stared into the garden and thought '42 will do.' I typed it out. End of story."

In later tellings, he also explained that it seemed the funniest number.

Answer 3

Yea, it's true, about 42 minutes. I remember watching something on TV about gravity; I think maybe "The Universe".

Anyway, they mentioned and confirmed what you're talking about. They did mention it was impossible, due to the theme of the show, gravity.

However, it's just a number, there's really no significance besides a possible stroke of inspiration by Mr. Adams. Personally, I think he intended to be a bit humorous due to the simplicity of the answer after all the time, effort, and all that waiting!

In this case, 42 may be relevant in some way to Earthlings, but not the Universe.

--FYI--

Disregard at least 1 thumbs down for each of these answers, it seems as if you're question has been "trolled". A troll is someone who comes in YA! and purposely gives people thumbs down regardless of the accuracy and credibility of the answer. It's really dumb.

Answer 4

you wouldnt be able to fall through to the other side. there would be gravity on both sides. you would have to walk through or move through the tunnel but you could not fall through it.

Answer 5

Actually the question WAS given.  Remember when Arthur Dent (the sole surviving inhabitant of the living computer that was Earth, that was designed to come up with the ultimate question of Life, the Universe, and Everything) started randomly pulling tiles out of the bag and laying them on the ground (in the book, if not the movie or the series)?  Do you remember what it spelled when he was finally finished?  It spelled, "what is seven times six".  Or, maybe it was "what is six times seven".  I guess it doesn't really matter, does it?

The answer was random.  The question was random.

What it means is that, ultimately, life is random.  You live life from moment to moment, not knowing what will happen next.

.

Answer 6

And why would the particular mass/dia. of one small,

out of the way, planet be related to the "answer"

except coincidence.

You like coincidences don't you?

Answer 7

(1) I saw the Science show your talking about, it was interesting...

(2) I Saw the Movie your talking about and I do remmeber the question and finally the answer given..

(3) I have no clue as to why you thing the answer is in some way a conlusion?  Please elaborate on why you thing the 2 situations are alike?

(4) I dont believe the answer given in the movie was based on any true outcome/source but was mearly for a laugh.  But If you do believe in some way the creators of the movie used some type of truth to the answers outcome, then please give us some reason or your thoughtt on why this is...