Assume a hole is drilled through the center of the Earth. It can be shown that an object of mass m at a distance r from the center of the Earth is pulled toward the center only by the material in the shaded portion of the figure below. Assume Earth has a uniform density ?. Write down Newton's law of gravitation for an object at a distance r from the center of the Earth and show that the force on it is of the form of Hooke's law,
F = ?kr. In terms of g= 9.8 m/s^2 and the radius of the earth R=6.3781x10^6m, what is k? Compute the time it takes for an object to fall through the entire tunnel if all other forces are negligible.
the mass of the object = m
distance from the midpoint of earth = r
Density of earth = d
Volume of the encompassed region of earth = 4/3 r3
M/V = d
M = d*V = d* 4/3 r3
Gravitational force acting on the object F = GMm / r2
F = - G* Md * 4/3 r3 / r2 = GMd(4/3) r ( -ve sign because force is directed to the midpoint )
Hook's Law :
F = -kx
Hence, k = GMd(4/3)
It's SHM inside the tunnel.
angular velocity = sq rt GM/R
T = time period = 2 / = 2 R / GM
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