I thought this was cool: [video=youtube;e5TAXsFDtA8]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e5TAXsFDtA8[/video]
Horrible idea. It would do for Putin's Russian Mafia what MAX did for the Crips. Open up a whole new territory for them to operate in, and provide easy transportation for them to maintain their control.
Perfect opportunity to post Bert Kreischer's incredible Russian mob/train story, "The Machine"... [video=youtube;8PAtFsJY5q0]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8PAtFsJY5q0&feature=channel_video_title[/video]
I absolutely love that! I heard it on Rogan but never saw the cartoon. I am going to Bert Krescher's site to order a "The Machine" (but written in rusian) tee shirt right now. Peace, and thanks for posting that. repped.
In the 80s I read an article about a straight tunnel thousands of miles long. In this thread's context, it could be from Moscow to New York. Gravity would pull the vehicle in the first half of the trip as it went deeper, accelerating to maximum speed midway. Ascending in the second half of the trip, gravity would slow it. It would need engine propulsion early to get it started, and late in the uphill climb. To make it almost frictionless, it would need magnetic levitation, of course.
Same with me, I heard the podcast (a clip of the story) but didn't know someone had animated it. Still one of the craziest stories I've heard.
A chord in a circle illustrates what I'm talking about. It's a straight line tunnel from Moscow to New York. Gravity pulls the vehicle downhill toward the center of the Earth, then it coasts uphill.
The deepest mankind has ever been able to drill is the Kola Superdeep Borehole at 7.5 miles into the crust, and only about 9 inches wide. This hole took 24 years to dig. The continental crust is about 20 to 30 miles thick. I have no real response to your post, just thought it gave me a chance to recall stuff I learned in college a few years back. More info that I will never employ in a fruitful fashion.
The article I read was aware that this is beyond our technology. The density and heat of the rock down there is one problem. The article was about connecting any two locations, not specifically Russia and the U.S. For two locations closer together, there is less gravity to make it accelerate and decelerate. It was a radical idea, so I remember it. Someday I'll post about the theory that the force of gravity pushing us all downward toward Earth's center can be explained if all atoms are expanding. Then Earth is expanding, so am I, and we are pushing into each other. Voila, gravity. No need for Einstein's 4th dimension.