• Question: Is it possible to dig to the centre of the earth

    Asked by jimmybob to Cathal, Ciara, Emma, Michael, Sive on 11 Nov 2013.
    • Photo: Michael Nolan

      Michael Nolan answered on 11 Nov 2013:

      I would say no, for two reasons (Jules Verne may disagree with me…)

      1. The temperature as you move to the earth’s core rises until you get to the core which is calcualted to be around 5300 degrees C (water boils at 100 degrees C), still not hot enough to induce fusion.

      2. The pressure as you move to the core also grows and at the core of a planet hydrogen gas is turned into a metal!

      So, you or your drilling gear would not get very far to be honest.

      hope this helps

      M

    • Photo: Sive Finlay

      Sive Finlay answered on 11 Nov 2013:

      Hi,

      We can’t dig to the centre of the Earth; the farthest anyone’s got so far is just 12km which barely scratches the surface of the Earth’s crust. There are, however, plans to dig further than ever before to try to reach the Moho which is the boundary layer between the outer and inner crust. The Earth’s plates are thinner below the oceans so the International Ocean Discovery programme is trying to dig large holes in the seabed and reach the Moho for the first time (cool article about it here http://www.theprovince.com/technology/Researchers+drill+world+deepest+hole+unearth+mysteries+locked/8863946/story.html)

      So we won’t get to the centre of the Earth but we people are trying to go further than ever before!
      Sive

    • Photo: Emma Cahill

      Emma Cahill answered on 17 Nov 2013:

      Hi
      I will just add on something to the other great answers, that there are good reasons why scientists want to try such crazy things like that in the first place! The samples that are collected from such experiments where they drill into the Earths crust can tell us (well expert geologists and then us..) what is the crust made of, and perhaps even how it was formed. Some volcanoes have spewed up usefull samples of whats below in the past too. On a much smaller scale, certain archeologists take drilled samples, or “cores”, from sites of ancient settlements that they study to analyse what sort of soil and therefore crops, ancient settlers may have used.
      So the idea is useful in more way than one!

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