What If You Just Keep Digging?
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Published 2024-07-19
It was part of a race to see who could retrieve a sample from Earth’s mantle first - kind of like the space race, but DOWN. Here's what they found...
Humanity’s deepest hole is only 0.002% of the way to the middle of the Earth. There’s still so much left to learn about our own planet.
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All Comments (21)
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Quick correction: .2%, not .002%! Thanks to the folks who pointed this out, appreciate you. The Kola Superdeep Borehole is ~12.3 kilometers (7.6 miles) And Earth's radius is ~6,371 kilometers (3,959 miles). So .2%! Better than I said but still so much more to discover…
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So my childhood attempt at digging to China was doomed from the start.
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I love that one part of history where humanity was going through their "why not" moment
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So frickin cool that a seemingly meaningless task like digging a really deep hole led to scientific discoveries and inventions that we continue to use today.
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The USSR dug other holes too and one of them accidentally hit a well of flammable minerals and started an endless fire. They spent 3 years trying all sorts of things to put out the fire, but all failed. Until some scientists came up with the crazy idea to use a nuclear bomb to shift the earth down there and seal the hole. They drilled a second hole next to it, inserted their nuclear bomb and exploded it. It shifted the earth around the place like an earthquake can move land. That plan worked. Fire went out permanently.
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The USSR: Digs for decades The earth: "Is it in yet?”
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That depth is the equivalent of not getting all the way through the skin of an apple
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humans haven't unlocked the Minecraft enchantments so the buffs to the equipment can help dig faster and further with efficiency and precision.
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Is this what is called optimistic science? That last clip scared the shit out of me
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"dig down, it's not rocket science!" "No sir, I'm afraid it's harder..."
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Digging as deep as possible sounds like a cool idea on paper and a horrible plan in action.
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Imagine if humanity stopped competing and started working together
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Never underestimate a man’s determination to dig a hole
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Its so hot cause theres no windows down there
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If they only made it 600ft before pulling funding then why did they even bother making the attempt in the first place?
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Fun fact: The Soviet government simply forgot to give the order to stop drilling.
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US: Bro, stop it. You won already. USSR: I don't hear any bell.
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Maybe 'Drill Science' is harder than 'Rocket Science' after all.
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You make things very interesting. I have attention issues so thank you 🎉
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When my friend tells me I've hit bottom, I'll show him this, so he know there's a lot more depth I can dig.
