This is fun. Ever wonder where you would end up if you dug a hole through the earth?

[A HERETIC I AM]

For all of the lower 48, the answer is The Indian Ocean! You would miss China by quite a bit!

http://www.freemaptools.com/tunnel-to-other-side-of-the-earth.htm

Move the map around the cross hairs in map 1 to find out the opposite side of the planet on map two.


OK...it's fun for about a minute or so.


SQUIRREL!

[onehandle]

1. After a while, you're just going to hit Turtle...

[IMG][/IMG]

[A HERETIC I AM]

4. The problem is, if you are using a rotary drill, you have to drill really fast...

when you hit the turtle or it will just spin on ya.

Relevant science at the 2:32 mark;

[pipi_k]

6. Last time I tried this...

the turtle heard me coming and moved out of the way just in time.

That bastard!

[Aristus]

7. And it's turtles all the way down, people...

[a la izquierda]

10. We must've read the same thing.t

[pipi_k]

2. So apparently...

I would end up several hundred miles southwest of Australia, in the middle of the Indian Ocean.

Which would kind of suck, as all that water would probably leak through the hole and flood my yard.

[A HERETIC I AM]

5. LOL...yup

But ONLY your yard.

[Chan790]

3. What's interesting and frustrating is exactly how few tunnel spots there are...

that are on dry land on both ends. The easiest ones are in the north of Greenland...which is actually an ice sheet overhanging water and a vast shallow sea. (of 2' deep ice-cold salt water...like a giant brackish bog.)

There's a few spots in South America that manage to come through into Thailand, Indonesia or Japan. A few that clip coastal China.

Other than that...it's pretty much water on one end or the other.

[greatauntoftriplets]

8. Guess it's good that my hole never got deep enough.

I fully expected to end up in China.

[A HERETIC I AM]

13. LOL..me too.

I think the deepest hole I/my friends ever dug was 6" or so. Seemed like a damned mineshaft!

Thinking about it, it was probably only 3 or 4" but with the dirt we dug out piled along the edge, then take a piece of plywood...
Voila!

[greatauntoftriplets]

14. Mine was getting towards 2'.

Years later, I did get to China, but on an airplane. Much easier.

[libodem]

17. Wow, that brings back memories

We were hella fort digging kids. Yep, plywood or whatever boards for a roof. We must have been filthy dirty.

[Kingofalldems]

9. Looks like I could tunnel down an then swim to Australia.

[Blue_In_AK]

11. I'd be in the Southern Ocean

a little more than halfway between the tip of South Africa and Antarctica, closer to Antarctica.

[A HERETIC I AM]

12. No point in trading one cold spot for another, eh?

Hope you're well!

[Blue_In_AK]

16. Doing great.

Actually, it's quite warm up here and has been for several days. It's 39 and windy right now. Yesterday was 46, a record high for the date, with scattered rain. Normal is 23. High temperatures are supposed to be above freezing for the rest of the week.

I think it's all connected to that big high out in the Pacific that's causing California's drought.

[A HERETIC I AM]

18. You were warmer in Alaska yesterday than it was here in Jax this morning!

LOL...well...there you go.

It's a balmy 51 outside right now, but supposed to get down into the low 40's tonight.

[Blue_In_AK]

20. The weather is definitely weird.

I couldn't believe I was walking around in a t-shirt down in San Francisco last week. I was too hot in a hoodie. San Francisco in JANUARY?? It's supposed to be rainy and miserable down there this time of year.

[muriel_volestrangler]

15. Amazing how much land has ocean opposite it

The only sizeable bits of land opposite each other are south-east Asia, eastern China and Korea, roughly opposite the western half of South America. North America is opposite the Indian Ocean (just the northern half of Greenland and the Canadian Arctic islands are opposite Antarctica), Africa, Europe, and most of Asia are opposite the Pacific, Japan and eastern Siberia opposite the South Atlantic, and Australia opposite the North Atlantic.

[A HERETIC I AM]

19. Well, as we all learned in sciency class....

if all the land was on one side of the planet, it would be all lopsided, roll over and fall off the turtles!