Violette Vanek: Bottonless pit: a hole in the ground that has no bottom. If the hole is vertical, then it would go through the centre of the Earth and "come out" at the anti-podal position. Such a thing is impossible on Earth. It might be possible on smaller bodies with colder cores. It is certainly "possible" in science-fiction stories. Even then, serious authors do try to apply the correct rules of physics. They don't always succeed (e.g., the movie "Lost In Space" where the Jupiter attains escape velocity by falling through the exploding planet...). If the hole goes right through the centre: If your latitude is L north and your longitude G West, then you'd come out at latitude L south and longitude (180-G) East. If you start anywhere in the northern hemisphere, you will not end up in China (which is also in northern latitude). In fact, there is very little land that has antipodal land (this makes sense as almost 71% of Earth's surface is covered by water). If you ignor! e friction (and core heat), if you simply jumped in at the surface, you would accelerate until you reach the centre, then decelerate (at symmetrical rates) until you would come to a stop at the surface at the other end; one way trip: a little less than 40 minutes. (It would be 42 minutes IF the Earth's density was constant all the way to the core, but it is not; Earth is denser at the centre so that you will fall a bit faster than if Earth had a constant density, therefore you will take less than 40 minutes). You will NOT escape into space at the other end, unless you are already going down at the escape speed when you enter the hole. Whatever speed you gain when falling towards the centre, you will lose climbing out after passing the centre. If the body is rotating and if the hole is NOT along the axis of rotation, you will almost certainly hit the sides on the way down. As you jump in, you have lateral speed compared to the centre of the planet. However, the sides of the ! hole have slower and slower lateral speed, until the lateral s! peed is 0 at the centre (yours is still whatever you had when you jumped in). And the other end of the hole has a lateral speed that is the opposite of yours. On Earth, if the hole goes from a point on the equator to the antipodal point on the equator (180 degrees away), and if you jump in exactly at the moment of sunrise, then your lateral speed is a little over 1000 mph (1666 km/h) towards the East and towards the Sun. If you make it to the other end with nothing to stop your lateral speed, you are still going 1000 mph towards the Sun, which is, at that point, to the west (the hole, though is going 1000 mph eastward). Difference = 2000 mph. If the hole's width is just large enough (almost 667 miles wide) and you jump in from the west side of the hole at sunrise, you smack into the side of the hole at the other end, with a speed of 2000 mph. Bring a cushion. It is possible to imagine a double hole shaped somewhat like an 8, with the angles calculated so that your lateral s! peed is taken into account. I remember doing it a long time ago. It is a relatively easy (albeit long) calculation. Better to imagine the hole along the rotation axis....Show more
Coralie Goldsberry: It was given as an example of how sentences can be complete without an explicit subject as the subject in this sentence is said to cover all that which can fall. In this sense, (fall) here is a verb.The book was previously stating grammatical differences between different languages and it was elaborating on different terms used in different languages like subject and predicate or noun and verb and which has priority over the other, specifically between English and German. Then it went on explaining how sentences can be considered complete even without any explicit subject and this sentence was given between brackets and without any context and the book doesn't give any further explanation about which.I thought it was a translation of a German sentence but then I realized ! that there is no previous mention of such thing. Then I said it might b! e an English idiom or a common expression in slang since English is not my mother tongue.If it's not could you please recommend me a ...Show more
Berry Gilmore: reference that could help in such issues?Thanks a lot for your help, I really appreciate it.
An Cardine: need the full sentence. Impossible to tell whether fall and rails are supposed to be nouns or verbs. Fall can mean to drop to a lower spot, or a decrease. Fall in can actually mean to collapse inward upon itself, although that probably isn't what was meant.Rail can mean to decry, to complain about, or it can mean complaints, or it can mean a bar used as a handle or support, like a staircase rail, or even a track for a railroad (as in rail road).And as written, the phrase doesn't seem to make sense with any of those various interpretations, which suggests that there is an assumed but unstated back-reference to something outside the phrase....Show more
Irvin Guiles: It is not a full sentence, a! nd means nothing by itself. Could you give us the full sentence, and even the whole paragraph?Edited (after reading your Additional Details) that I am quite baffled by this. Can you go back to the author and query it? The author's English has failed him there, and I can't think what else his poor translator can do about it. It means absolutely nothing. The other answerer has given you a good, full explanation of why we can't understand it. Also, the last sentence of your Additional Details is incomplete. What are you asking?...Show more
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