Global Transit Thoughts
February 6, 2008It takes me 45 minutes to drive to work.
This is interesting because I could reach any other point on earth quicker.
Let me explain:
If you drilled a hole through the earth and installed a set of frictionless rails (or some kind of vaccuum tube). The time it takes to go from one side of the earth, screaming through the middle and to pop your head out on the other end… is 42 minutes.
That means that I could get to the other side of the earth quicker than driving to work. It actually gets better because if you dont go to exactly the same point on the other side of the earth (ie: you make a sort of chord) it takes exactly the same time. That also means that if I had a frictionless tube that went to the other side of the room that was precicely the same distance from the center of mass, conservation of energy could get me there in 42 minutes. It also means that I would also instantly start travelling back in the other direction for 42 minutes but thats beside the point.
The point is that despite my car being quite amazing (you have seen it haven’t you?) it is no match for a theoretical frictionless tube through the earth’s crust.