Dec 18, 2023 04:45 PM
https://www.livescience.com/planet-earth...ough-earth
EXCERPTS: . . . The deepest human-made hole today is the Kola Superdeep Borehole in Russia, which is 7.6 miles (12.2 km) deep. At its bottom, the pressure is 4,000 times that at sea level. It took scientists nearly 20 years to reach this depth, according to World Atlas. And that's still over 50 miles (80 km) away from the next layer, the mantle...
[...] the temperature in the mantle is a searing 2,570 degrees Fahrenheit (1,410 degrees Celsius). Stainless steel would melt, so this drill would need to be made of an expensive specialized alloy, like titanium, Wilson said.
Once through the mantle, the drill would finally reach Earth's core at about 1,800 miles (2,896 km) down. The outer core is made mostly of liquid iron and nickel and is extremely hot, with temperatures ranging from 7,200 to 9,000 F (4,000 to 5,000 C), according to the California Academy of Sciences. Drilling through this hot, molten iron-nickel alloy would be especially difficult.
"That would cause a whole range of issues," Damon Teagle, a professor of geochemistry at the University of Southampton in the U.K., told Live Science. The fiery outer core would be like drilling through a liquid, and it would likely melt the drill unless cold water was pumped down.
Then, after 3,000 miles (5,000 km), the drill would reach the inner core, where the pressure is so intense that, despite the scorching temperatures, the nickel and iron core remains solid. "You'd really be at indescribable pressures," Teagle said — about 350 gigapascals, or 350 million times atmospheric pressure.
This whole time the drill would be pulled down to the core by Earth's gravity. In the center of the core the gravity would be similar to being in orbit — effectively weightless. That's because the pull of Earth's mass would be equal in all directions, Wilson said.
Then as the drill continues toward the other side of the planet, the pull of gravity will switch relative to the position of the drill, effectively pulling it "down" toward the core again. The drill will have to work against gravity as it pushes "up" toward the surface, back through the outer core, mantle and crust to reverse the downward journey... (MORE - missing details)
EXCERPTS: . . . The deepest human-made hole today is the Kola Superdeep Borehole in Russia, which is 7.6 miles (12.2 km) deep. At its bottom, the pressure is 4,000 times that at sea level. It took scientists nearly 20 years to reach this depth, according to World Atlas. And that's still over 50 miles (80 km) away from the next layer, the mantle...
[...] the temperature in the mantle is a searing 2,570 degrees Fahrenheit (1,410 degrees Celsius). Stainless steel would melt, so this drill would need to be made of an expensive specialized alloy, like titanium, Wilson said.
Once through the mantle, the drill would finally reach Earth's core at about 1,800 miles (2,896 km) down. The outer core is made mostly of liquid iron and nickel and is extremely hot, with temperatures ranging from 7,200 to 9,000 F (4,000 to 5,000 C), according to the California Academy of Sciences. Drilling through this hot, molten iron-nickel alloy would be especially difficult.
"That would cause a whole range of issues," Damon Teagle, a professor of geochemistry at the University of Southampton in the U.K., told Live Science. The fiery outer core would be like drilling through a liquid, and it would likely melt the drill unless cold water was pumped down.
Then, after 3,000 miles (5,000 km), the drill would reach the inner core, where the pressure is so intense that, despite the scorching temperatures, the nickel and iron core remains solid. "You'd really be at indescribable pressures," Teagle said — about 350 gigapascals, or 350 million times atmospheric pressure.
This whole time the drill would be pulled down to the core by Earth's gravity. In the center of the core the gravity would be similar to being in orbit — effectively weightless. That's because the pull of Earth's mass would be equal in all directions, Wilson said.
Then as the drill continues toward the other side of the planet, the pull of gravity will switch relative to the position of the drill, effectively pulling it "down" toward the core again. The drill will have to work against gravity as it pushes "up" toward the surface, back through the outer core, mantle and crust to reverse the downward journey... (MORE - missing details)