Stupid question spurred by a random thought

[Batman]

For some reason, as the wife and I were driving down the road today, I had this weird question pop into my head.
If you just picked a random piece of ground, and weren't drilling specifically for gas, oil or water, how far down could you dig? If you had enough time and money, the best equipment, etc.? Is there any limit?
We're just drilling a hole here, not a mine or a well.

 

[21]

Extra credit: How many licks does it take to get to the tootsie pop center?

 

[PCLoadLetter]

Extra credit: How many licks does it take to get to the tootsie pop center?

Three.

 

[dooley_womack1]

And how about that airline food!

 

[MTM]

My brothers used to tell me we could dig to China, but we never got that close.

 

[JayFarrar]

Well you'd most likely have to get a permit and the state where you wanted to drill would also have some rules as well.
at least for heavy machinery. If you were digging by hand and it was private property you could get to a couple hundred feet if you knew what you were doing and had the safety equipment to keep the shaft from collapsing.

 

[trifectarich]

According to Wikipedia:

The Kola Superdeep Borehole is the result of a scientific drilling project of the former USSR. The project attempted to drill as deep as possible into the Earth's crust. Drilling began on 24 May 1970 on the Kola Peninsula, using the Uralmash-4E, and later the Uralmash-15000 series drilling rig. A number of boreholes were drilled by branching from a central hole. The deepest, SG-3, reached 12,262 metres (40,230 ft) in 1989, and is the deepest hole ever drilled, and the deepest artificial point on the earth.

 

[HandsomeHarley]

According to Wikipedia:

The Kola Superdeep Borehole is the result of a scientific drilling project of the former USSR. The project attempted to drill as deep as possible into the Earth's crust. Drilling began on 24 May 1970 on the Kola Peninsula, using the Uralmash-4E, and later the Uralmash-15000 series drilling rig. A number of boreholes were drilled by branching from a central hole. The deepest, SG-3, reached 12,262 metres (40,230 ft) in 1989, and is the deepest hole ever drilled, and the deepest artificial point on the earth.

They would've gone farther down, but ran into Jimmy Hoffa.

 

[TigerVols]

Is the Kola Superdeep Borehole worthy of the HOF?

 

[Batman]

According to Wikipedia:

The Kola Superdeep Borehole is the result of a scientific drilling project of the former USSR. The project attempted to drill as deep as possible into the Earth's crust. Drilling began on 24 May 1970 on the Kola Peninsula, using the Uralmash-4E, and later the Uralmash-15000 series drilling rig. A number of boreholes were drilled by branching from a central hole. The deepest, SG-3, reached 12,262 metres (40,230 ft) in 1989, and is the deepest hole ever drilled, and the deepest artificial point on the earth.

They would've gone farther down, but ran into Jimmy Hoffa.

That was only after they encountered and defeated the Morlocks and Silurians, though.
Leave it to the Russians to try something incredibly nonsensical just to see if they could.

 

[finishthehat]

You really can't beat the Uralmash for that kind of work. I use it in my backyard all the time.

 

[BTExpress]

Leave it to the Russians to try something incredibly nonsensical just to see if they could.

"General Beringer, the Russians are at 40,000 feet. What does the WOPR recommend?"

 

[Bamadog]

In addition to the world's deepest hole, the Russians also built the world's largest nuke. And detonated it, the Tsar Bomba. From wikipedia:

The heat from the explosion could have caused third-degree burns 100 km (62 miles) away from ground zero. The subsequent mushroom cloud was about 64 kilometres (40 mi) high (nearly seven times the height of Mount Everest), which meant that the cloud was well inside the Mesosphere when it peaked. The base of the cloud was 40 kilometres (25 mi) wide. Atmospheric focusing caused blast damage up to 1,000 kilometres (620 mi) away.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tsar_Bomba

Hope you wore your shades that day, Russkies. 8)

 

[SoCalScribe]

Cool thread, I learned a few things. Just watched 2012 last night so am in the mood for this kind of trivia.

 

[Batman]

In addition to the world's deepest hole, the Russians also built the world's largest nuke. And detonated it, the Tsar Bomba. From wikipedia:

The heat from the explosion could have caused third-degree burns 100 km (62 miles) away from ground zero. The subsequent mushroom cloud was about 64 kilometres (40 mi) high (nearly seven times the height of Mount Everest), which meant that the cloud was well inside the Mesosphere when it peaked. The base of the cloud was 40 kilometres (25 mi) wide. Atmospheric focusing caused blast damage up to 1,000 kilometres (620 mi) away.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tsar_Bomba

Hope you wore your shades that day, Russkies. 8)

I've seen "Armageddon." If the Russkies had dropped the big bomb down the big hole, we might have all been ****skied.

 

[Pete Incaviglia]

Batman, I welcome you to my Club of Stupid Question Askers:

http://www.sportsjournalists.com/forum/threads/59523/

 

[Pete Incaviglia]

Is the Kola Superdeep Borehole worthy of the HOF?

Well played. Got a good laugh out of me.

 

[dooley_womack1]

Is the Kola Superdeep Borehole worthy of the HOF?

Does it go ATM?