[vannrox]

“A Modest Proposal: Mission to Earth’s Core”, David Stevenson, available at http://www.gps.caltech.edu/faculty/stevenson/coremission

[Graycliff]

Sounds like someone got into the Magic Mushrooms.

[Tarpaulin]

That’s a lot of money, but as I see it the proposal would do more for society than the current administration's tax break for millionaires, and it costs a lot less.

They just had to put that in.

BTW, it would only be zero-G inside a hollow sphere at the exact center.

[Carry_Okie]

I seriously doubt that the "blob would cohese well enough to keep from flowing into cracks until it dissipated.

[cripplecreek]

Interesting stuff right up to the jab at the president.

[Fierce Allegiance]

bump to read later when I can find my glasses.

[PeterFinn]

I guess this begs the question: Why bother?

[Little Pig]

I read something recently about creating semiconductors out of diamond. That should at least solve the heat resistance problem.

[Doctor Stochastic]

Presumably there is some critical depth at which the iron blob would stall because the pull of gravity is insufficient to move it further or provide more gravitational energy.

I estimate the stall depth to be about 6,378 kilometers from the center. (Only an estimate, I could be wrong.)

[spodefly]

Been there:

[Ditto]

It may be a long time until we can probe the Earth’s core, but we should make a start.

Why? What's the benefit?

[Fiddlstix]

Bump
To read later

[Centurion2000]

with a mass of about 108 kilograms, the amount of iron in a sphere about 30 meters in diameter.

WTF ? a 30 meter BALL of melted iron is gonna weigh MUCH MORE.

[GOP_1900AD]

RE: 108 kilograms, the amount of iron in a sphere about 30 meters in diameter.

????? Oooops! That's some pretty light iron there!

[Fedora]

SF ping.

[Little Ray]

A sphere of iron 30m across masses 108 kg? I think not. Dunno the specific gravity of iron, but 10800 metric tons is more like it....

Weird idea, but a crummy article.

[bruin66]

to do a 38 minute in-vacuum free-fall through the Earth’s interior gravitational field to the other side of the planet...

If I remember right, if a hole were bored all the way through the center of the Earth and an object of sufficient tolerance to temperature, etc,were dropped in the hole, it would have a period of oscillation of 84 minutes. BTW that is also the period of a satellite at the surface of the (smooth) Earth. In addition, a pendulum of infinite length, with its mass swinging at the surface of the Earth, would have a period of 84 minutes. You're welcome...

[HuntsvilleTxVeteran]

We could revive the MOHOLE project.
It only got about 1,000 feet before funding was cut off because of project directors feuding.

[PISANO]

What 'earthly' reason could there be for this type of incursion to the center of our planet?

[Fresh Wind]

[King Prout]

this is not a good idea. period. paragraph. end of story.