Let me see if I can explain why we can’t dig too deep in a more down-to-earth way…
As someone who’s worked more than their fair share of construction sites over the hot summers, I can tell you things get darn hot the further down you go. And I’m not just talking a casual sweat – I’m talking everything melts and people spontaneously combust levels of heat.
Now imagine you’re 12 kilometers under the surface – that’s over seven miles of solid rock piled on top of your head! All that weight squeezes together tighter than a boa constrictor, cranking the temperature up higher than the devil’s armpit. Even the toughest drill bits and digging machines would melt like margarine left on the dashboard.
Then there’s the crushing pressure. Everything wants to compact in on itself that far down. Your average person might think a few hundred meters of dense soil would be nothing, but trust me – the strain would flatten you thinner than a pancake. Not to mention all that squishing and squeezing plays havoc on infrastructure like supports. One wrong wobble and cave-ins could bury crews faster than an avalanche.
Let’s also not forget about the total isolation. Down in some cramped tunnel deeper than the Mariana Trench, help would take longer to arrive than it takes me to finish my second cup of coffee. Rescue attempts turn into recovery ops in those conditions. And God forbid there’s a fire or gas leak – extinguishing that would be next to impossible without kevlar-coated lungs.
Sure it would be fascinating to unlock earth’s deepest secrets. But when simply standing up straight could crush your insides like an empty soda can, I’ll opt to admire geology’s grandeur from a safer surface view, thanks very much! Hope this helps explain why, practically speaking, we just can’t dig that deep – at least not without seriously upgraded equipment and techniques. And who wants to be a guinea pig testing those at multi-mile underground depths?!
