Imagine you're playing with a ball on a trampoline. If you jump down, the trampoline stretches and pulls you back up, like gravity working in reverse. Now imagine digging a tunnel straight through Earth from one side to the other. If you jumped into it, you'd be pulled by gravity toward the center of Earth, then bounce out the other end, just like on the trampoline.
What Happens Next?
Once you come out the other side, you’d keep moving forward until gravity pulls you back again, kind of like a swing or a pendulum. If there was no air to slow you down, you'd zip through Earth forever.
Examples
- Jumping into a hole that goes all the way to the other side of Earth
- Like falling down like a pendulum, then bouncing back up
- If you could go through Earth and come out on the opposite side
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See also
- What If We Dug a Hole All the Way Through Earth?
- What does the ocean act like a giant weight on Earth?
- How the tides REALLY work?
- How do I explain to a six year old why people on the other side of the Earth?
- What is The Moon pulls on Earth like a giant magnet?