Let’s say hypothetically a giant hole suddenly opened up that went super deep into the Earth’s mantle or even its core. Let’s also ignore the fact that it will be scorching hot and filled with lava or water. Let’s just say it opens up, it’s dry land, and we start exploring it. I know that the atmospheric pressure would be greater. Would it be similar to the sea where the body would eventually be crushed at a certain depth? And would explorers be required to do something similar to how deep sea divers decompress when they ascend?
In: Physics
Assuming atmospheric pressure goes up 12 kPa per km; 6300 km is 75,600 kPa (746 atmospheres).
The deepest part of the ocean is 11 km. About 1000 atmospheres. Water is much denser but compared to the planet the oceans are incredibly shallow.
The decompression deep sea divers do is because they are breathing compressed air to equalize the pressure between themselves and the deep water. Equalizing reduces the need to fight the water pressure (if your body is at 1 atmosphere inside, 10 atmospheres outside is a lot. If you breath 10 atmospheres inside, you don’t feel the difference at 10 atompsheres). If you arise too quickly, nitrogen bubbles form in your blood. All of this would be the exact same behavior in water or air
My assumptions on depth do not apply correctly, the more accurate pressures at core of planet is 3-4 million atmospheres
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