November 20, 2008: Whole Lotta Hole

Just like getting a BJ from grandma... don't look down.

Amazing. I'm gonna start a second career as a cave explorer right away.
Is this the cave where the Chinese Government dumps all the executed people? It shouldn't be that deep anymore...

Should we tell Sheldon there is a giant vertical shaft in the IotD?


I just did some calculations, and if I got them right, if you tossed a stone into that shaft it would take 14.5 seconds to hit the bottom. There would be another three seconds before the sound reached you back at the top.
When it hit it would have been doing 510 kph (317mph) less wind resistance.

I thought terminal velocity was around 200mph?

Obviously the work of a big Horta with locomotion difficulties.

It's really cool how smooth/straight that hole is. I'm no geologist. There's probably some simple explanation for how it was formed, but I can't imagine what that would be.

THIS THING:

I just want to throw a hot dog down there. Zen can calculate it for me. And Sheldon could laff.

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Originally Posted by ZenGum Should we tell Sheldon there is a giant vertical shaft in the IotD?...

spelunking will NOT appear in my obituary

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cloud spelunking will NOT appear in my obituary

oh, one can only hope!

Quote:

Originally Posted by ZenGum Should we tell Sheldon there is a giant vertical shaft in the IotD? I just did some calculations, and if I got them right, if you tossed a stone into that shaft it would take 14.5 seconds to hit the bottom. There would be another three seconds before the sound reached you back at the top. When it hit it would have been doing 510 kph (317mph) less wind resistance.

What about terminal velocity? I guess you couldn't figure it unless you knew the exact size & mass of the stone and figured out the air resistance.

All you really need is the mass, frontal area and drag coefficient.

How can the air be any good way down at the bottom? I would think they'd need breathing apparatus at some point in their explorations.

Also: better hope the bulbs don't burn out on those flashlights.

I like it when HLJ talks dirty.

Quote:

Originally Posted by glatt There's probably some simple explanation for how it was formed, but I can't imagine what that would be.

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Originally Posted by SteveDallas What about terminal velocity? I guess you couldn't figure it unless you knew the exact size & mass of the stone and figured out the air resistance.

Perhaps someone in Argentina dug a hole to China.

Here's an elevation map of the cave from 2002 (from here). (I think it's the same cave. The link is to the explorers' journals.)

Quote:

Originally Posted by glatt It's really cool how smooth/straight that hole is. I'm no geologist. There's probably some simple explanation for how it was formed, but I can't imagine what that would be.

I would guess that layers of permeable and impermeable rock are created over ages, and then pushed around as a part of tectonic plate collision, with some layers being pushed close to vertical, and then a process of erosion occurs and the impermeable parts don't crumble in for some reason. That's just a guess.

It's clearly water doing it, but I don't understand why the water eroded straight down instead of making a more horizontal cavern with stalactites and stalagmites. Those caverns are in limestone too.

It's so perfectly straight in the photos and we all know that water almost never goes perfectly straight. It winds and meanders all over the place following the path of least resistance.

Barefoot's karst topography link makes a lot of sense the way it's drawn, but I'm not fully convinced. This shaft reminds me of peeing into a snow bank. Dogs, I mean, not me. You would never catch me peeing into a snowbank.

Not just any water... falling water. Water does go in a perfectly straight line when gravity makes it fall straight down and there is no wind.

Makes me think of Gandalf and the Balrog...

Quote:

Originally Posted by HungLikeJesus Perhaps someone in Argentina dug a hole to China. Here's an elevation map of the cave from 2002 (from here). (I think it's the same cave. The link is to the explorers' journals.)

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Originally Posted by Sheldonrs But "Horrendous personal pleasuring device accident' will.

Looks kinda like the asshole of the earth. And here I thought it (the a-hole of the earth) was in a trailer park here in Kentucky.

No comments on the "grandma" quip in the intro, but I'm not sure why. One time I think of it I laugh out loud, the next time I shudder. Is it an old IOTD standby? Or just something xoB managed to sneak in?
Speaking of IOTD standbys, when I was in Vietnam there was a nearbly unit called the 174th Assault Helicopter Company, with the motto or handle "Dolphins and Sharks." The dolphins were the "slicks" or troop carriers and dustoffs and the sharks the gunships (Cobra, e.g.). Have they come up in the d/s bandinage here?

Bruce is just a witty guy.

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Originally Posted by Diaphone Jim No comments on the "grandma" quip in the intro, but I'm not sure why.

We have a bigger hole than that here in the states.
It sucks up trillions and trillions of dollars annually,
Never to be heard from again!