I dont think there are any current technologies that could survive that to tell you the truth, and I think the only thing your going to find is magma. Red hot, molten magma.
But, since I assume this is to be a fantasy/sci-fi story, I guess you could argue that creatures such as dinosaurs or megafauna could have possibly found a route to the Cot E, only to have that route disappear over time. These creatures could've evolved as time passed.
Theres sex and death and human grime in monochrome for one thin dime and at least the trains all run on time but they dont go anywhere.Well, you'd get molten rock and a shitload of pressure. Moreso the latter, because with enough pressure the superheated rock can't even melt. At the center of the earth you quite literally have the weight of the world crushing you, and you'd need some sort of material that could withstand that. That's complete superscience though, so I don't think there's much we have today that could offer much insight.
Then again, perhaps if you told us more about what your planning to do, we could offer some insight. Is this a fantastical "Trip to Hell" or *shudder* a fan sequel to The Core?
Gosh I need a shower after that thought!!
Theres sex and death and human grime in monochrome for one thin dime and at least the trains all run on time but they dont go anywhere.You're definitely going to need some sort of vehicle. I don't think anybody is going to want to walk that journey, nor any animals either. It would have to be some sort of automated boring machine, one that can withstand a ton of heat and pressure.
Once you get to the center, it's hard to tell. We assume that there's a ton of magma right at the core of the Earth, but is it solid or liquid? It would be best to equip your machine with swimming capabilities just to be safe.
One thing to definitely keep in mind is figuring out where on the other side you're going to be popping back up. You don't want to pop up into some city, overturning cars, running over people, or knocking down buildings. You'd also want to avoid things like sewer lines and power lines either direction you go. You should probably make sure you don't end up in an ocean either, but then again, if you gave your machine fins, it probably wouldn't matter. But you might be concerned about draining out the entire ocean. That would be bad.
Edit: ^If you knew of the unexpected dangers, they wouldn't be unexpected, now would they?
edited 31st Mar '11 11:14:17 PM by WackyMeetsPractical
For context, the story starts off with this little girl who is helping her mother in their garden. As she makes the first strike with her little trowel, she declares that "One day, I'll get to the other side of the world!" This grows when the rest of her family get in on the act and use it as a bonding activity. Eventually, the the neighbors help dig deeper, and then the rest of the town. A news crew catches word of this colossal project and cover it. The story is picked up by some MIT students who get corporate sponsoring to fund for a massive drilling apparatus to assist the girl (who is now in high-school). With the drilling machine in action, the project picks up the pace causing people to start placing bids on where the girl will come out on the other side and how long it will take her.
By the time the girl has reached the center of the world, she has become a college student and has fallen in love with one of her new friends. They get married just as they hit the middle of the inner core. While on the way out, the young woman has become a mother and gives birth to two children, a girl and a boy. As the machine breaks the surface on the other side of the world, the woman greeted by cheering crowds who congratulate her on her accomplishment. But it's a bittersweet victory as she learns that her parents have become gravely ill. using the new elevator shaft that gets installed in the hole the girl drilled, she races home and to her parents. unfortunately, they only have time left in the world to tell her how proud they are of her before passing on.
After her parents' death, the girl becomes a teacher at the new college at the center of the world.
There's no currently conceivable technology that could come close to managing it. It would practically require new laws of physics to be discovered.
Think of it this way: There's no way in heck that MIT students are designing the boring machine. The machine will be designed by a planet-wide super AI 200 years in the future.
Blind Final Fantasy 6 Let's PlayYeah I don't think the idea of piping down cool water for the drilling machine to spray around itself and then placing concrete walls on the tunnel would hold up very well in Real Life. But for the sake of brainstorming, would melting a path through the iron core and piping the slag up towards the surface to help reinforce the walls around the tunnel sound at least believable?
Ok as much as I would hate to revisit The Core, you could take something away from that. The movie featured a submersible boring machine constructed from Unobotanium, an element whose molecular integrity increased the greater pressure and heat was placed on it. You could use something to that effect.
Theres sex and death and human grime in monochrome for one thin dime and at least the trains all run on time but they dont go anywhere.Good point, my Mc Noobish friend.
Also, while the core of the earth is magma, there could be stuff swimming in it. Like Silicate-based life, who would find the insanely hot conditions ideal to power their otherwise really slow metabolism.
edited 6th Apr '11 12:18:36 AM by doorhandle

What sort of available technology could one use to make it to the center of the planet and to the other side? And what sort of unexpected dangers could one face as they make their journey?