Is it possible to drill through the earth

This was twice what was expected at that depth and drilling deeper was no longer possible. Following the collapse of the Soviet Union there was no money to fund such projects — and three years later the whole facility was closed down.

Now the desolate site is a destination for adventurous tourists. The German borehole has been spared the fate of the others.

The huge drill rig is still there — and a tourist attraction today — but today the crane just lowers instruments for measurement. The site has become in effect an observatory of the planet — or even an art gallery. Others thought they could hear the planet breathe.

Then where we were drilling was just much hotter than where the Russians were. It was pretty clear that it was going to be much more difficult for us to go any deeper.

No one had got to it before. It was really exciting. There are always surprises. As with the original Project Mohole, the scientists are planning to drill through the seabed where the crust is only about 6km 3. What we are trying to do is find out more about the Crust-Mantle boundary. One of those is off Costa Rica, one off Baha, and one off Hawaii. Each of the sites involves a compromise between the depth of the ocean, distance from the drilling site and the need for a base on the shore that can support a billion-dollar, hours-a-day operation at sea.

They can cost hundreds of millions of euros — and only a small percentage will actually be for the earth sciences, the rest will be for technological development, and of course, operations. Join more than one million Future fans by liking us on Facebook , or follow us on Twitter or Instagram.

If you liked this story, sign up for the weekly bbc. The deepest hole we have ever dug. Share using Email. Planet Earth. A map showing the Earth's antipodes — the places where you'd appear on the other side if you dug straight down.

Most are in the middle of the ocean. Credit: imgur. Newsletter Sign up for our email newsletter for the latest science news. Sign Up. Already a subscriber? Want more? More From Discover. Recommendations From Our Store. Firstly, falling or jumping straight down the hole is more difficult than it sounds.

After about a mile of falling, you would crash into the side of the hole and likely never even make it to the other side. But why? Because of the Coriolis Effect.

The surface of Earth is constantly spinning at more than 1, miles per hour. The inside lane is shortest, and they get lengthier as you move out. So, if you jumped into the hole, you would soon be traveling faster than the sides of the hole around you, causing you to crash into the sides. Without the Coriolis Effect getting in the way, you would fall straight down, being pulled by gravity the same as if you jumped off of a building or bride or other high platform.

And, with nothing to stop your rate of speed, you would soon be traveling at 6 miles per second. But, as you approached the center of the Earth, something wild would happen. The mass above you would begin to cancel out the attraction of the mass below you, meaning that the downward pull would weaken until you reach the center.

And this is where things get crazy. Once you reach the center, you would experience NO gravitational pull. Achieving, in effect, weightlessness.

You would just float, being pulled equally by gravity in all directions. And the pull would strengthen again, until you popped out on the other side of the globe about 40 minutes later. So, supposing this impossibility were actually possible, it sounds pretty cool, right? You would be able to travel to the other side the world while experiencing weightlessness and the speed of sound.

And the whole trip would take less than an hour. Want a more detailed answer? The video below does a great job of explaining science behind this answer. If you started at your home, where would you pop out on the other side? Click here to figure it out. That is cool. But if that is then why would you want to ruin the experience for Chinese kids trying to get to their grandparents or uncles and aunts. If the Earth had a huge tunnel going through it, would the Earth eventually collapse on itself?

Is another way to describe this is to imagine you were playing Angry Birds Space and you shot a bird me, for example through a hollow planet and it just came out the other side??? To your first question, I believe that the Earth would collapse on itself. The only difference is that Earth has its own atmosphere, which includes gravity. In the angry birds game, gravity is often absent or much less strong.