We take the perfect condition of our earth for granted sometimes.
We may have never been able to journey to the centre of the earth, but these days, we
know that below us are three layers, the mantle, the outer core and the inner core.
But what would the world be like if it were just crust?
Hello and welcome back to Life’s Biggest Questions, the channel that looks to answer
some weird, wonderful and at times fanciful questions.
I am Rebecca Felgate and today we’re asking : What if the earth was hollow?
Before we launch into this video I just want to let you guys know that we have started
a Patreon…so if you want to be part of helping to create some bog answers on this channel,
I will leave the link in the comments section below.
By using seismological and magnetic field data we have been able to gain an understanding
of what is inside planet earth.
We live on the crust, a thin outer layer that occupies just one percent of the earth’s
volume, and just 0.5 percent of its mass.
If the earth were hollow, we would lose 99% of our mass, which would have an effect on
gravity.
The moon has 1.2 percent of the earth’s mass as it is, so without a core, our relationship
to the moon would change, with us drawn to it rather than vice versa.
Our loss of earth mass would also undoubtedly have an effect on our experience with gravity,
we would no longer be sucked down to the ground at the same rate as the equation would have
changed.
Again, with our change in mass, our orbit in relation to the sun would change too.
If the earth were hollow, our plate tectonics and volcanoes would behave very differently
…in fact, we would have no volcanoes.
Volcanoes are formed when magma from the earths mantle pushes its way to the surface…without
a liquid outer core and a mantle, this wouldn’t happen.
So…had the earth always been hollow, there would be no volcanic islands like Hawaii.
If the earth was hollow, could we pop it…like a big crusty balloon?
Well…I don’t know, but I for one would be more concerned about asteroids….that
being said nothing has ever smashed through to our mantel before; the earth would still
be between 30 to 50 kilometres thick, although we would have less mass to absorb the shock.
At the moment we have not been able to drill to the mantle as the further .down you go
in the earth towards its core, the hotter and denser things get, breaking our tools.
The farthest we have ever dug is around 12 thousand metres down, so roughly a third of
the way through our crust.
However, without the heat and pressure of our core, perhaps we would be able to poke
a hole into earth….although I am not sure you would want to fall in it.
Ignoring the many issues a hollow earth would present for a moment, if we were able to drill
a hole each side of earth, Youtuber V Sauce calculates it would take 37 minutes to fall
through it and reach the other side…but of course…..that is an extreme simplification
for a process that would undoubtedly kill you.
If the earth was hallow, what exactly would be in the middle of it?
Oxygen?
Another gas?
Right now there is nowhere near enough oxygen on earth to fill up the entire middle of the
planet with it….
I suppose we ought not worry about a hollow earth anyway, seeing as if it happened we
would probably all frazzle to a crisp on its surface anyway.
One of the main contributing factors of our earths existing core is that it controls the
earth’s magnetic fields.
The liquid core has electric currents running through the conductive liquid metal which
creates our magnetic field.
This magnetic field protects the planet from solar winds, without them earth would get
hot and uninhabitable – like the planet venus, which does not have na internally generated
magnetic field.
although our burning to a crisp would be quite pretty – without magnetic fields there would
be lots of auroras in the sky….
Like the northern lights but everywhere.
It is hard to say precisely what would happen if the earth were to be hollow, but the answer
pretty much involves life on earth as we know it never having evolved the way it did….as
of course there really is no way to drain the earth of its innards now, and of course,
even if there was, the earth would crumple up into itself.
Its best to just focus on the happy life we have been awarded on our hearty, filled rock…and….now
more than ever, we are at the brink of discovering more about our insides than ever…who knows
what big questions will come from those discoveries.
Thanks for tuning in to this episode of life’s biggest questions – do you have anything
to add to this answer?
What would you like us to talk about next?
Let me know in the comments section below.
Also do make sure you have clicked that notification bell for regular updates from our channel.
I am Rebecca Felgate, I’ve left the Patreon link in the description box.
I’ll see you in the next video but for now, stay curious, stay alert and never ever stop
questioning.
If you guys have watched right through to the end…hurrah..you get a gold stay…and
two awesome for you to keep watching for more big answers!