Good question. So far, not very far. The Earth is about 6400 km deep, made up of many layers (Crust, Mantle, Upper Mantle, Asthenosphere, Outer Core, and Inner Core). We have never gone deeper than the Crust layer (the Crust goes down 35km). The furthest someone has gone down is about 12 km. Even at this depth, the temperature is already 250 degrees Celsius. The inner core is a hot 7000 degrees Celsius. There is also a tremendous amount of pressure, so it makes it difficult to do.
As Brad has mentioned, it can get really hot and there is a lot of pressure. In terms of chemistry, even water will go from 2(H2O) to 2(H2)+O2 at 2000 degrees Celsius (it will not stay as water or steam). The highest decomposition temperature for a compound is carbon monoxide at almost 4000 °C. What this means is that even if you make your material heat resistant, it will probably break down (decompose) by the time you get to 4000 °C, or ~4000 km deep.
Some materials can start to melt before it decomposes so it probably means once you break through the crust to the mantle, your transportation vehicle would start to melt and don’t have a shape anymore. 30-35 km is still quite deep relative to what we are used to – just nothing compared with how far it is to the core.
I looked up James (Titanic) Cameron’s recent record-breaking dive to the Mariana Trench in the Pacific Ocean to compare it to what Brad and Herbert have said (although I know it isn’t exactly “into the earth”. Apparently this dive, the deepest in the ocean anyone has been, and very technically difficult, was 11 km below the surface. That doesn’t really seem very deep to me, but the pressures at that depth would be huge.
Good question. So far, not very far. The Earth is about 6400 km deep, made up of many layers (Crust, Mantle, Upper Mantle, Asthenosphere, Outer Core, and Inner Core). We have never gone deeper than the Crust layer (the Crust goes down 35km). The furthest someone has gone down is about 12 km. Even at this depth, the temperature is already 250 degrees Celsius. The inner core is a hot 7000 degrees Celsius. There is also a tremendous amount of pressure, so it makes it difficult to do.
1
As Brad has mentioned, it can get really hot and there is a lot of pressure. In terms of chemistry, even water will go from 2(H2O) to 2(H2)+O2 at 2000 degrees Celsius (it will not stay as water or steam). The highest decomposition temperature for a compound is carbon monoxide at almost 4000 °C. What this means is that even if you make your material heat resistant, it will probably break down (decompose) by the time you get to 4000 °C, or ~4000 km deep.
Some materials can start to melt before it decomposes so it probably means once you break through the crust to the mantle, your transportation vehicle would start to melt and don’t have a shape anymore. 30-35 km is still quite deep relative to what we are used to – just nothing compared with how far it is to the core.
1
I looked up James (Titanic) Cameron’s recent record-breaking dive to the Mariana Trench in the Pacific Ocean to compare it to what Brad and Herbert have said (although I know it isn’t exactly “into the earth”. Apparently this dive, the deepest in the ocean anyone has been, and very technically difficult, was 11 km below the surface. That doesn’t really seem very deep to me, but the pressures at that depth would be huge.
0