<span title="Geologists/physicists?tunnel">Geologists/physicists?tun...</span> to the centre of the earth?

Question

supposing we dug a huge hole to the centre of the earth, and some device kept the mantle and outer core from sealing the tunnel. The pressure that keeps the inner core solid would be broken, giving it it somewhere to expand to. therefore would it not spurt out, lessening its density, and therefore weaken gravity considerabely?

so my question to you is-does this mean a tunnel to the center of the world would render it uninhabitable?or have i gone wrong somewhere?

just wondered? ; )

Answer 1

The pressure would not be broken, because your device would seal it in.

If you allowed stuff to flow out just from the core, the flow would be exactly enough to plug your tunnel and give you the pressure back.

Answer 2

Actually; no.  If there were such a tunnel, the force of gravity would actually get weaker and weaker as you approached the centre of the earth (because the gravitational attraction from the mass of the earth in all directions at the centre cancells out).  Therefore, any material would not &#039;spurt out&#039;.  It would gradually flow into the hole, filling it up until it was sealed again.