Travel to the Earth's center

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Earth cutaway from core to exosphere. Partially to scale
Earth cutaway from core to exosphere. Partially to scale

Travel to the Earth's center, though not currently considered scientifically possible, is a popular theme in science fiction. Some subterranean fiction involves travel to the Earth's center, either finding a Hollow Earth or the Earth's molten core.

Though no scientists have seriously proposed travel to the Earth's center, planetary scientist David J. Stevenson suggested as a thought experiment sending a probe to the core.[1][2] So far, the deepest humans have drilled is just over 12 kilometers, (7.62 miles), in the Kola Superdeep Borehole.[3]

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[edit] Hollow Earth

Main article: Hollow Earth

A "Hollow Earth" theory posits that the planet Earth has a hollow interior and probably a habitable inner surface. At one time, adventure literature made this idea popular. The scientific community dismisses it as pseudoscience - but it remains a popular feature of many fantasy and science fiction worlds, and is an explanation to conspiracy theories.

[edit] In science fiction

Most famous, Jules Verne's 1864 science fiction novel Journey to the Center of the Earth set the stage for travel to the Earth's center.

The 2003 film The Core concerns a team that has to drill to the center of the Earth and set off a series of nuclear explosions in order to restart the rotation of Earth's core. It was loosely based on the novel Core. The vehicle used in the movie was a snake-like ship, dubbed Virgil, equipped with a powerful laser drill, a small nuclear reactor for power, an unobtanium shell against the intense heat and pressures, a powerful x-ray camera for viewing outside, and a system of impellers for movement and control.

In the 1987 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoon, the season three Technodrome location is the Earth's core, and transport modules are used to drill up to the streets. Season three also features the episode Turtles at the Earth's Core, with a deep underground cave where dinosaurs live, and a crystal of energy that works like the Sun to keep the dinosaurs alive.

[edit] See also

[edit] Deep drilling projects

[edit] References

  1. ^ Stevenson, David (15 May 2003), “Mission to Earth's core — a modest proposal”, Nature 423: 239-240, doi:10.1038/423239a, <http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v423/n6937/pdf/423239a.pdf> 
  2. ^ Noble, Ivan. "Plumbing the Earth's depths", BBC News, 14 May 2003. Retrieved on 2008-02-23. 
  3. ^ Eagleson, Mary (1994). Concise Encyclopedia Chemistry. Walter de Gruyter, p799. ISBN 3110114518.