(6) What if you kept digging downward? - YouTube
AI Summary
This video explores the hypothetical scenario of a person digging straight down at a speed of 1 foot per second, analyzing what would kill them first. The narrator, Randall Munroe, establishes that digging downward is more dangerous than rising at the same rate. The primary immediate threat is extreme heat, as temperatures rise approximately 35° C per kilometer, leading to lethal conditions within an hour or two. The Southern Methodist University Geothermal Lab's maps show that even avoiding areas like the Yellowstone super volcano, temperatures quickly become unbearable. A significant challenge is the removal of excavated material; digging a meter-wide hole at 1 foot per second requires lifting half a metric ton of material every second, demanding immense power (over 10 megawatts after two hours), which would inevitably heat the hole itself. Even if protected from heat and the digging process, increasing air pressure becomes a problem, with oxygen itself becoming toxic below about 15 km. Randall Munroe concludes that if one is protected against all these factors, the question transcends physics and enters the realm of fantasy, making a scientific answer impossible.
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