7 ms·
Simulator of digging a tunnel through the earth
- gus_massa 5y agoNice, but where is Antarctica? Is it possible to stop the rotation of the Earth? It would be nice to be able to enter the coordinates instead of the name of the city, for people that lives in small towns.
- DecoPerson 5y agoTo stop the auto-rotating, paste this into your address bar: javascript:app.three.controls.autoRotate = false Note that Chrome will remove the "javascript:" prefix when pasting, and you'll need to manually add it back yourself.
- jafo 5y agoUndersea by rail. Ninety minutes from New York to Paris: 5600 km
- bluGill 5y agoToo bad we can't pull it off with current technology.
- jafo 5y agoGuess we will just fantasize about it in song then: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ueivjr3f8xg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ueivjr3f8xg The future is bright: wheels in space, underwater trains, and everyone gets a spandex jacket.
- xpe 5y agoAccording to "How long would it take to fall through the center of the Earth?" [1], it would take 2 * 42 min = 84 min, ignoring air resistance, and, (probably) survival of the passengers. [1] https://www.physicscentral.com/explore/poster-earth.cfm https://www.physicscentral.com/explore/poster-earth.cfm This approximation accounts for this fact: "As you fall there is less and less mass between you and the center so there is less and less to pull you down"
- xpe 5y agoMore (interesting!) flaws of the 42 minute calculation are shown here: https://www.livescience.com/50312-how-long-to-fall-through-earth.html https://www.livescience.com/50312-how-long-to-fall-through-e... This approximation accounts for non-uniform density of the earth: > Klotz based his calculations on the internal structure of the planet as determined from seismic data. While the Earth's crust has a density less than about 187 lbs. per cubic foot (3 grams per cubic centimeter), Earth's center has a density of about 811 lbs. per cubic foot (13 grams per cubic centimeter). The density of the planet does not rise in a straightforward manner the farther down one goes — there is a sharp 50 percent increase in density at the boundary of the planet's mantle and its outer core about 1,800 miles (2,900 km) below Earth's surface. > Now, using a more realistic model of the Earth, Klotz finds the fall would take only about 38 minutes and 11 seconds, about 4 minutes faster than thought.
- el_nahual 5y agoWhy wouldn't the passengers survive? Even though they will reach terrifying speeds, at no point will their acceleration exceed a relatively gentle 9.8ms^-2
- throwaway98797 5y agoit gets quite warm down there.
- ffhhj 5y agoEnters The Ever Given.
- zerop 5y agoReminding me of that place in india on a coastal temple, where there was an arrow put up in ancient time. It has a text in Sanskrit that says that it points to South pole and there is no land between the arrow and south pole. Not able to recall the name. Something like that
- appwiz 5y agoSomnath temple https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Somnath_temple https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Somnath_temple
- CrazyStat 5y agoAs far as I can tell the current temple at Somnath was built in 1951, hardly ancient.
- dotancohen 5y agoWikipedia mentions that Muslim invaders have destroyed the temple multiple times over the centuries.
- CrazyStat 5y agoYes, that's why I said current. I see nothing indicating that the arrow to the south pole predates the 1951 construction.
- datameta 5y agoInteresting idea, but I don't want to use my GPS location to try it out. I wish it were possible to manually input a location by tapping.
- xwdv 5y agoNeat, but do you think it may ever be possible to build these kind super tunnels somehow? How wide?
- amelius 5y agoIs there even a material that can withstand the temperature of Earth's core?
- TeMPOraL 5y agoSure, with enough active cooling :). The tunnel could easily double as an extremely powerful geothermal plant.
- amelius 5y agoI think it may be easier to build a "lava submarine" ...
- pc86 5y agoNot only that but wouldn't you basically need a rocket in order to get from the core to the surface?
- amelius 5y agoI guess you just "fall" into the tunnel, and then your journey ends with speed=0 at the other end because of energy conservation.
- dotancohen 5y agoFriction will likely mean that you don't come up to the same height as you left.
- amelius 5y agoYou'll just grab the rope that's hanging in the tunnel at the other end, and climb out :)
- montenegrohugo 5y agoFor Spain (my country), New Zealand is straight at the other end. Neat.
- gorbypark 5y agoIt took me a while to find anywhere interesting to me (Canada and Spain) that actually lined up. Unfortunately Valencia falls into the ocean, but Madrid lines up with south east coast of the North Island of New Zealand!
- secondcoming 5y agoThe constantly spinning globe is infuriating UX. I'm not sure what the point of this is; all it does it show a chord on a spinning perfect sphere (which the Earth isn't) 'Thesis project'... which part of this requires a university education?
- cabalamat 5y agoI looked for a way to stop it spinning but didn't find one.
- brettermeier 5y agoYou could enter app.three.controls.autoRotate=false in the console in the DevTools (F12).
- stavros 5y ago> on a spinning perfect sphere (which the Earth isn't) It's pretty damn close, though, to 0.3%.
- butz 5y agoI was hoping for some interesting information on what happens when such tunnel reaches Earth's inner core...
- amelius 5y agoOk, I entered start and end position. How do I start the simulation?
- szszrk 5y agoI'm afraid that red line is it. The gaming industry spoiled us, giving us so many weird "simulators". This thing would be called "red line simulator" on Steam, and would likely still sell well.
- account42 5y ago> Thesis project for the Interaction Design master’s at Malmö University Having to enter the start by a name (or your location) and destination by a 2d grid while neither can be selected on the globe as far as I can tell certainly is a choice you can make for "Interaction Design". A good one though?
- JKCalhoun 5y agoNever mind that a joystick is a very imprecise way to select your end point ... I keep trying to hit an island out in the Pacific and cannot with the coarseness of the joystick.
- eplanit 5y agoIt's cool looking, but frankly it has nothing to do with "digging a tunnel". It's a "graphically draw a line through a sphere" app. Digging a tunnel would have to deal with deep earth concerns, such as how to deal with the core, what to do with the removed material, etc.
- grendelt 5y agoYeah. It's just a line connecting antipodes on a 3D model.
- NikolaNovak 5y agoNice; my "even better if" assuming this thesis project is still in motion: 1. Needs a "stop rotating" button (or a more prominent one if there is one already), especially for something that's for "Interactive Design Thesis"; it's a fascinating toy to play with but after 30 seconds of Globe rotating away from position I put it in, I got frustrated 2. This may be a preliminary version, but again, if a thesis for Interactive Design, being able to click on the globe would seem a pretty intuitive / expected reaction for most initial users 3. Feels like less of a "tunnel" thing and more of a "find out what's on the other side of the globe". It's a cool toy that sets incorrect and high expectations through the title/name. Otherwise, pretty neat :). Cheers and good luck!
- davbryn1 5y agoThis really doesn't simulate anything.
- tornadofart 5y agoTo all those thinking: "this doesn't do much": try it on mobile.
- genezeta 5y agoIt still doesn't do much. Mobile version just changes the input controls to using geolocation and motion sensors. Other than that the functionality is still the same; it doesn't do more on mobile.
- tornadofart 5y agoI meant you probably have to use it on mobile to get the full experience as intended by the developer, and you very well knew I meant that. You just chose to be pedantic to someone on the internet, congrats. I hope it improves your life.
- genezeta 5y agoI did not choose to be pedantic and I'm sorry you concluded that. I also did not get much meaning into your own comment other that it suggested there was "more to be seen". I commented because, having tried it on desktop and then on mobile, the experience is still fairly similar. Most people commenting on it "not doing much" were generally expecting more functionality -e.g. some additional visualization of the tunnel or whatever-, not just a different input control. Telling people to try it again but on mobile would probably not make them find such additional value. I'm sad you took this so personally and so negatively.
- archeantus 5y agoObservation: there is a ton of water on this planet.
- gus_massa 5y agoNitpicking: There is a lot of surface covered with water, but not too much water in total. Water is a thin layer over a rocky base. https://www.usgs.gov/media/images/all-earths-water-a-single-sphere https://www.usgs.gov/media/images/all-earths-water-a-single-...
- sixothree 5y agoI would love for one of these that stayed in the same hemisphere.
- beardyw 5y agoI haven't even got down one metre yet. I hoped I'd be done before it gets dark. How is anyone else doing?
- mariuolo 5y agoPerhaps this could be also called "find my antipodeans".
- trenchgun 5y agoDisappointed. I need to see lava.