If a huge metior would make a hole straight through the Earth and you dropped a ball in the hole....?
94632
Assuming (1) the Earth isn't torn apart by the impact of such a meteor and (2) the Earth wasn't molten rock in the center, you could safely expect this ball to go through the hole toward the center of the Earth, pass through the center and start moving towards the opposite end of the Earth.\n\nBecause the ball won't have gained enough kinetic energy to then break away from Earth's gravity (in the same way a pendulum always comes back and finally, to rest), the ball will then slow to a stop and return back towards the center.  Just as a pendulum will, the ball will oscillate back and forth for a while until its potential energy evens out to zero and it stops, motionless, at the exact center of the Earth.\n\nGive it a try and let us know how it all works out, okay?
702842
In all honesty, I don't think it's possible as the ball is pressurized.  Maybe a direct hit of a sharp object would cause the ball to deflate and not "burst."\n\nHope this helps.
858875
First off, much of the interior of the earth is molten after you get about 30K down, so you couldn't really drill a hole through it. But for arguments sake, let's say you built a super-strong tube out of some nano-material and inserted it through the center of the Earth from pole to pole. Now you drop your stone.\n\nThe stone would fall towards the center of gravity, the center of the Earth. It would accelerate as it fell, so it would presumably fall past the center and head towards the South Pole. As it headed towards the South Pole, the gravitation pull would slow it down. Would it manage to to escape the Earth's gravity? No.\n\nConsider that the stone being at the top of the North Pole represents "potential kinetic energy". You could have generated energy from its fall much like a dam creates energy from falling water. Instead, it fell freely towards the center of the Earth, and all its potential kinetic energy has been turned into velocity. That velocity can't be enough to go any further than it fell (that is, out of the South Pole) because where would the excess energy come from?\n\nNow when the stone is at the center of the Earth, it has no potential kinetic energy. It can't fall anywhere, because every direction is up. All of its potential kinetic energy has been turned into velocity and so it should "fall up" the distance that it fell down. When it reaches the South Pole, it will have no velocity left, but it will have the same potential kinetic energy as when it started to fall. So you might expect it to fall from pole to pole indefinitely.\n\nHowever, if the tube is full of air, we have a problem. Falling objects normally have a "terminal velocity", which is the speed at which the air resistance stops the object from accelerating further. The air pressure at the center of the Earth would be enormous (air would probably be a liquid at these pressures and temperatures), as it would be subject to the weight of the air both north and south of the hole pulled in towards the center. The increasing density of air would slow the object as it fell to where it had little momentum as it approached the center. It might overshoot somewhat, but friction would continue to slow it until it was drawn to the center of gravity.\n\nNow if the tube contained a perfect vaccuum, the object should continue to fall from pole to pole indefinitely...except there's the problem that the stone would hit the sides of the hole due to the rotation of the Earth. See Foucault's Pendulum. This would slow it down, causing it again to settle at the center of the Earth.\n\nThere you have it. No need to drill through the center of the Earth now.
128500
The object will follow a parabolic trajectory to the earth, as observed from outside the plane.  On the plane, it will appear to fall straight down in your (moving) frame of reference.  Air resistance will retard this motion, but it's magnitude depends on the drag coefficient of the object dropped and the medium in which it is falling.
955246
If you were right at the center then the symmetry of the situation would mean that you'd be weightless since the gravitational force would be balanced all around.  \n\nSimilar situation if you were just a little off the center.  Most of it would balance except for a little bit.  Think about starting at the earth's surface and moving to the center.  You'd start at your weight and become zero at the center.  Assuming continuity and noting the nice behaviour of gravity then it must decrease in a smooth fashion.  If you continued through your hole to the opposite side you'd weigh the same but in the opposite direction, always pointing towards the center.
335818
well...throw?..if you dropped them at the same time they will hit the earth at the same time
346050
You'll never get to the other side, first because if it was possible, you'd burn in the central core. But more importantly, the fact that you fall into the hole is because you're attracted by gravitation force, so you're attracted to the center of the Earth. The closer to the core, the stronger the attraction force. Therefore, if you reached to center of the Earth, you'd stay there and would not be able to continue your jouney to the other side, unless you had a power device that helped you get away from this force
1110006
if you DIDN'T include the SCORCHING MAGMA and the EXTREME VELOCITIES EXHIBITED BY FALLING THROUGH THE EARTH and also the CHANCE THERE IS WATER ON THE OTHER SIDE THAT WOULD EMPTY INTO THE HOLE, you would go down easy, but then it would become increasingly hard to climb out of the hole once you are at the center. also, gravity will be stronger at the middle and close to it. here is a diagram. gravitational force is measured as 1 weakest and 4 second strongest, then () as the center. [ and ] are the crust\nweeeeeeeeeeeeeee    center of earth!!!!  \n[ 1       2        3           4             ()                 4        3        2        1 ]\n\nbasically, closer to the center of the earth, greater gravitational force. you could get crushed by the gravity in the center anyway and there would be not enough oxygen to breathe for the extension of the trip. revisiting the make a hole to china and maybe end up in a ocean idea, here is a link.\n\nhttp://www.digholes.com/\n\nthis is kind of cool. double click where you are digging from, then it will show where on earth you would end up. if you dug from china straight down, you would end up in south america. try it.
888456
Mathematically, on the moon you could now throw the ball 240m.\n\nScientifically, on the moon you could throw the ball 240m and farther. On the moon, their is only gravity bringing the ball to a stop. On Earth, gravity and friction of the air slows the ball down
589261
So if you dug a tunnel through the Earth, ignoring the molten lava, and if you fell through the tunnel you would indeed get stuck in the center of Earth's gravity well.
580111
the density or any other property of an object sinking in water does not immediately change.  at some point the ball might rust, but that's another argument.\n\nthe force acting on the ball as it sinks will grow exponentially with respect to depth, but the ball itself will be no different at the bottom of Marianna's Trench or the bottom of a drinking glass.\n\nPS, the earth's crust is no more than 30 miles thick in the thickest places, with about 7 miles in the deepest place in the ocean, so you cannot have a hundred miles of depth in any ocean.  good idea though!
791134
Well, sure, if your pocket was resistant to all the destructive power and unimaginable gravitational force due to an inconceivably huge amount of mass and energy in a single point.\n\nOtherwise, you'd be ripped apart and smeared into nothing in like a femtosecond.
71702
If the only factor involved in this would be gravity, the bullet would come back down at the same speed as it went up. But since there are other factors (friction, air, etc), the bullet would come down with less speed than it went up.\n\nThe same would happen with the place where it was fired, it probably wouldnt land on the same spot, since other factors have an effect on the bullet trayectory.\n\nchech the link from digg and wait for the episode of Mythbusters where they solve this myth ...
156917
It depends on how it came to rest. If it had Striked any other ball then its K.E will be transfered to the other. If u were to catch it , then imagine how u will bring your hand towards the ground so as to reduce its impact.Thus its k.E is transferred to you.\n               But if it were to strike the ground then the case is different.From conservation of momentum ,M1V1=M2V2.If M2 be the mass of earth, it is very large when compared to that of the ball. So to satisfy the above condition, V2 should be negligbly small. so we do not face amy impact. Now consider the case of an asteroid or an Hydrogen bomb.We r sure of expriencing the impact.
420139
Not unless the wind carries it because whilst the earth is spinning around rapidly, so is everything on it. If this were not the case, and a person jumped straight up into the air they would shoot of in a direction and this doesnt happen
366783
The ball would reach the other end and turn back and so forth i.e. it would oscillate. The whole motion is based on the gravitational force. Its a physics problem. check out a physics book chapter on gravitation.
804491
If there was a hole right through the center of the earth?\n\nAlright.  In order to understand the answer, you have to understand the difference between potential energy and kinetic energy.  Potential energy is stored up energy.  (Like a rubber band stretched and ready to snap.)  Kinetic energy is moving energy.  (Like the rubber band in the process of snapping.  \n\nThe moment that a person steps over the hole through the earth., that person has complete potential energy.  The earth's gravitation is pulling on them, but they are not yet falling.  As they fall, that potential energy is converting to kinetic energy.  They fall faster and faster.  Once they reach the center of the earth, they have no potential energy, only kinetic energy.  \n\nThis kinetic energy keeps them moving down the hole towards the other side of the earth.  As they are moving away from the earth's gravitational pull, they slow down.  The kinetic energy is converting back to potential.  \n\nOnce they reach the surface, they once again have full potential energy and zero kinetic.  \n\nSo, they yo-yo back and forth between the two mouths of the tunnel.\n\nWhat ends up happening depends on if you are taking air resistance into concideration.  \n\nIn a complete vacuum, the person would yo-yo between the two openings of the tunnel forever.   The person's potential and kinetic energies would have an inverse relationship.  Back and forth.\n\nIf you are taking air resistance into account, then some of the energy is lost from friction between the person falling and the air.  (It's lost through heat energy.)  During each yo-yo, the person's fall would be less and less.  Eventually, all of the energy in the person would be lost through the heat energy and the person would be stuck in the center of the earth, suspended there for all time.\n\nKinda cool, huh?