The deepest hole I ever saw someone dig was during a speech at a wedding

"The dwarves delved too greedily and too deep. You know what they awoke in the darkness of Khazad-dum... shadow and flame."

I tried digging a hole to China when I was a kid. Unfortunately I lived in a swamp and 6 inches down I hit water. So then I decided to dig a swimming hole. A determined kid can shift a lot of dirt in five hours, Mom was not happy 😃

You can only dig half-way into the earth. After that, you're digging out again.

Digging a hole by hand to the depth of a 120-story building is pretty darn impressive.

"Don't Dig Straight Down" Simon casually dropping Minecraft hints

The title : How Deep Could We Dig? The actual video : How Deep Did We Dig?

While generally accurate there are some points that need clarity. The mantle is SOLID. Not liquid not even sticky liquid like caramel. Don't ever let a geologist hear you say otherwise. (The technical term is rheid). When digging deep, adiabatic melting occurs, this is when you release pressure (because you've dug a whole) which causes the rock to melt. Also I'm pretty sure the kola superdeep is still the deepest we've ever dug there are some oil well that are longer like the one in Russia but are on an angle so are not actually as deep. Also most of the crust is oceanic (basaltic) and only up to 10km thick (0 at the mid ocean ridge). Continental crust (granite effectively) is indeed usually between 30-50km thick but can be up to 90 under the Himalayas! Also its the intense pressure from the weight of overlying rock which makes the inner core solid due to gravity pulling it down. The force of gravity near the centre of the Earth would actually be a lot less than that on the surface. And one finale reminder the mantle is solid otherwise shear waves wouldn't be able to pass through it!

I still remember one of the first times i ever even heard the concept of digging a giant hole, it was some Australian movie, was some kid in the movie that wanted to dig a hole to china, spends all day digging this massive hole on a beach before his dad comes out and tells him he has to stop and go to bed, next morning some Asian guy just taking a stroll down the beach, falls into the hole, kid just happens to wake up and walk outside as the Asian guy is climbing back out of the hole, runs back into the house screaming DAD!!!! lol.

I'm going to tell my geologist friend that Simon said the mantle is filled with caramel rocks.

I was hoping to hear more technical aspects, like how keeping water out of holes led to better understanding of air pressure (vacuum pumps couldn't pull water more than 32 feet up), and how we fight the pressure of the rocks around the holes at these deep depths. Also, isn't there a scientific reason for digging deep into the crust? Seeing the chemistry happening down deep could help understand tectonics and such.

So basically his face is a natural clickbait. Looks just like Michael from vsauce

Simon's intro , sounded like he was digging himself into a hole

I was hoping to see a 3D image of the length of the hole compared to the earth's crust.

Me getting this YT rec: "WTF is Babish doing talking about holes"?

“Don’t dig straight down” Normal people: really? Seems like the fastest way Minecraft players: duh 🙄

Digging holes is the foundation of a good childhood.

"it's not clear why we'd do this?" near infinite thermal power anyone? no? aight coal it is.

Why dig when you just go to any active volcano. There’s a deep hole right there.

Everyone’s asking How Deep Can We Dig but no-one is asking How Deep Should We Dig

“How deep is your hole?” - Bee Gees, probably

"If you want to go to the core, that's your choice. Just don't let out the dinosaurs" -Simon

So when the Bee Gees sing "How deep is your love ?" well no more than 50KM !

I appreciate that you pointed out the peculiarity of "knowing" the inner construction of the planet without ever getting remotely close to it. But then you just blew past that.

"Old habits die hard" seems like a bit of an oversimplification. We still "love gold" because it is pretty much the most useful metal we can find in nature! Unless you know of a material that conducts electricity, doesn't corrode and is relatively abundant close to the earth's surface?

As a kid, my siblings and I decided we would dig to China. We wanted a free holiday and it seemed like a good idea. We got about a metre down, and it was about a metre in diameter and circular. Unfortunately there was quite a layer of rocks, and something else got our imaginations going the next week, so we never went any deeper, but I think it’s probably still in my parents garden as a testament to how well we can collaborate, and how short our attention spans are 🤣

"From the widest valley, to the deepest trench, holes define who we are and where we're going."

Me: no more videos, I'm going to sleep. KZfaq: hey, wanna know how deep could we dig?

how did we get a whole 8 mins of digging without this quote - come on Simon ;p "The dwarves delved too greedily and too deep. You know what they awoke in the darkness of Khazad-dum... shadow and flame" :D

Simon: How deep can we dig. Me: Around 56 blocks😂

Finally someone agreeing that Germans digging trenches around their spot at the beach is rational!

"in the center of the earth is this thing called a mantle, its insane that we know this never never having dug into it." i have to use this one day.

Just a side note, the gravity isn't huge at the center of the earth, the pressure is. You would actually weigh less to none at the center of the earth than you do at the surface.

I ask myself this everytime I argue with my gf.

I’d dig one in an enemies yard so their house turned into a volcano. That would be pretty cool

"It's crazy that we know this despite never having seen it" The retort there is that we actually don't. We have a lot of evidence of how physics in general works and we make a lot of predictions based on pressure and composition of our planet based on observations of the crust and the magnetic field gives us some Intel on how the core behaves, but if we actually broke through and found the core actually WAS made of caramel, it would not be the first time science was upended by observation. And no, I'm not anti science at all, I think the fact that science as a principle allows for itself to be upended when observations don't fit predictions is very much a strength of the scientific method.

Your newer videos hit different, I like it, like you're more relaxed or happier.

It's almost like gold is used for things other than currency and just sitting around... like oh idk... technology

"and it was a borehole." Yes, highly valuable, almost unobtainable knowledge, perfect. I have now subscribed

I love the whimsical points in these you totally make the videos spring-step!

Brothers of the mine rejoice! (Swing, swing, swing with me!) Raise your pick and raise your voice! (Sing, sing, sing with me!) Down and down into the deep Who knows what we'll find beneath? Diamonds, rubies, gold, and more Hidden in the mountain store Born underground Suckled from a teat of stone Raised in the dark The safety of our mountain home Skin made of iron Steel in our bones To dig and dig makes us free Come on, brothers, sing with me! I am a dwarf and I'm digging a hole Diggy diggy hole, diggy diggy hole I am a dwarf and I'm digging a hole Diggy diggy hole, digging a hole The sunlight will not reach this low (Deep, deep in the mine) Never seen the blue moon glow (Dwarves won't fly so high) Fill a glass and down some mead Stuff your bellies at the feast! Stumble home and fall asleep Dreaming in our mountain keep Born underground Grown inside a rocky womb The Earth is our cradle The mountain shall become our tomb Face us on the battlefield You will meet your doom We do not fear what lies beneath We can never dig too deep I am a dwarf and I'm digging a hole Diggy diggy hole, diggy diggy hole I am a dwarf and I'm digging a hole Diggy diggy hole, digging a hole I am a dwarf and I'm digging a hole Diggy diggy hole, diggy diggy hole I am a dwarf and I'm digging a hole Diggy diggy hole, digging a hole Born underground Suckled from a teat of stone Raised in the dark The safety of our mountain home Skin made of iron Steel in our bones To dig and dig makes us free Come on, brothers, sing with me! I am a dwarf and I'm digging a hole Diggy diggy hole, diggy diggy hole I am a dwarf and I'm digging a hole Diggy diggy hole, digging a hole I am a dwarf and I'm digging a hole Diggy diggy hole, diggy diggy hole I am a dwarf and I'm digging a hole Diggy diggy hole, digging a hole

this is how the whole "Reign of Fire" dragon problem started. careful what you dig for, it may have been digging for you.

“I’ve been drill’ holes in the Earth for 30 years. And I have never, NEVER missed a depth I’ve aimed for!" Harry Stamper (Bruce Willis): "Armageddon" (1997).

If we were actually able to get through the crust, is there any danger of destabilising the planet or something?

I've been asking this question since I was a toddler. I'm 36 now.

You reckon that superdeep borehole is still as deep as it was when they capped it off, or you think maybe the plastic rocks have filled it in a bit?

I never though in my life I would be entertained by digging/drilling deep holes. This was a treat!

Girls at the beach: ow I hope we can see some dolphins Boys at beach:

To make basements... DANNYYYYYYY!!!!

I like digging. I have a lifetime ambition to have an underground base.

The Woodingdean Water Well is the deepest hand-dug well in the world, at 390 metres (1285 feet) deep. Work on the well started in 1858, and was finished four years later, on March 16, 1862. It is located just outside of Nuffield Hospital in Woodingdean , near Brighton, UK. The well was originally dug to provide water for a workhouse at the top of Elm Grove and a school for juveniles at Warren Farm. The workhouse was a place people would go if they were poor, couldn’t find work or unfortunately, if children became orphans, they often landed up in the workhouse. In exchange for their food and bed they were expected to work. The well is 390m (1285m) deep and is little more than a meter wide. In true Dickensian style, the well was hand dug by members of the local workhouse and was apparently carried out for 24 hours with candlelight as the only source of light. They had to scale up and down the shaft in complete darkness on a series of rickety ladders. Surprisingly, only one of the worker died in the process. Excavation work at the well continued for several more years, until one day at a change of shifts, something unusual was noticed. One of the workers realized that the earth he was standing on, at the bottom of the shaft, was beginning to heave upwards like a massive piston. All the workers scrambled upward as fast as they could go, to the Winchman’s platforms to get out of the way of the water that finally struck. The water rose to 400 feet in the first hour, with the men nearly escaping death

The self referential humor is a great addition to the facts. Very charming, good stuff!

That's where the dinosaurs live. LOl, really. Love your humor.

Kinda wish you dug in to geothermal aspects here. As it's easily the best renewable source on planet with no intermittent power issues, massive battery infrastructure or constant maintenance required. There's absolutely a great reason to dig super deep holes if we can do it affordably.

This dude has so many channels, that productivity is wild

Gonna tell my kids this was Vsauce.

When I was a younger Geologist, I attended a lecture on just this issue. The answer depends on the depth at which pressures change from hydrostatic to lithostatic...

Can we get one about the rumored space elevator we're allegedly going to get?

Everyone still loves gold because everyone is a pirate at heart. Nothing like a nice pile of gold to bring out your “yaaaaaarrrrrrrr”.

Soviet Union: creates an industrial nuclear superpower out of farmland Simon Whistler: unlike everything they ever tried, Russians managed to bore a hole in the ground. Oh yes, the famous Russian incompetence and British objectivity

After nearly 50 years working in various oilfields around the world I would be willing to bet that 15k you're talking about at Sakhalin is NOT straight down, they would be deviated wells

I asked this question when I was four. I came to the conclusion that the answer was entirely dependent upon just how long it took my father to catch me...🤯😠

2:01 - «South Africa» *zooms in on Central Africa*

The Binging with Babish of the engineering world.

We don't "know" all this about inside our planet - it's all hypothesis.

Just sounds like a whole lot of trouble than... fun fact: The most gold is used in electronic devices for off course conductivity.

My cousin and I dug a hole into a hillside it went about 15 feet down at a 30 degree angle it was about 3 feet wide in diameter we hollowed out a chamber and we'd camp in it and stash stuff. We had zero idea about engineering or structural integrity no shoring up or anything! We played in it for a whole summer one day we went out there and it all collapsed we both realized how close to death we came.

400M by hand is absolutely ..... i just don't even have words.

Holey cow! Thanks for drilling down to the core of the subject.

Enjoyed the video! Now I’m going to enjoy the inevitable comments correcting whatever you got wrong. 😁

I think digging a hole completely through Earth and jumping in would be somewhat fun as long as you don’t hit the sides of the hole, it’d just be a never ending free fall almost like you’re orbiting earth

The deepest hole that could be maintained without continuous extraction of heat would likely be a lot less than thickness of the crust. However we have to assume that at some point in the future a v-shaped borehole could be drilled up to the edge of the crust, and heat could be extracted (geothermal energy plant) until a solid dome has built up on the crust. A bigger v-shaped bore hole could then be drilled around the first one and continue heat extraction and drilling until the diameter of earth has been reached.

'The world needs ditch diggers, too' - Judge Smails

Imagine how big a hole you would have to dig to bury all that dirt.

I suddenly heard the BeeGees singing (to the tune if "How Deep Is Your Love") "How deep can we dig? How deep can we dig? I really want to know!"

"Let's turn to the undisputed king of the mines - South Africa" -> zooms into Democratic Republic of the Congo.

How do physicists know so much about the core of the earth when we’ve only dug 4km deep? Serious question.

Dad: dig Son: how far down Dad: till the rocks turn to plastic Son: tf Dad: goes to play some 2042 in peace

Crazy to think that the inner core is pretty much still just a theory with alot of evidence to back it up but ultimately still just a theory

Can confirm digging deep holes is tough, but worth it. Haven't been caught yet.

I believe the Diet Kola superhole wasnt as deep.

"It is just drilling a hole......so whatever!". That cracked me up.

The reason there up is so much gold found in South Africa is that around 3.5 billion years ago one of the largest ever objects from space struck the area around Johannesburg. The crater rings are still visible. The crust there melted causing the minerals and elements to form layers according to mass. The gold, which is rare normally but spread out, being heavy sank forming a mineable layer. The same thing happened in Canada.

I did my training in Goldmines about 40yrs ago. On 4A tertiary shaft (Go down 1 shaft to 15lvl then down 1 sub vertical shaft to 35lvl then down the tertiary shaft another few 100m so about 3200 or 3300m from memory. We were ontop of the cage installing cables when the winder tripped and the power went out....as did ventilation. My water lasted about an hour, it was another 2 hours before they used the emergency brake pump to lower us down to a level where we had compressed air and coukd use it too cool ourselves. It was a dead level so no exit, and under development. The developers had to wear ice jackets. Not pleasant. I have nothing but respect for all miners. As an engineer it was rare for me to to the development or mining arears as all major equipment is in pump rooms or hoist rooms. Dangerous game. I visited Kombat mine in Namibia in mid 80s. We had a tour, during the tour we were taken down the sinking shaft. Our guide asked this question ''can we go down now or do we have to wait until after the blast and go down with the shiftboss on inspection''. The answer is 4 words I will never forget ''Yes, there is time''. We got down before the blast, went back to surface had lunch and drove back to our mine, O'okiep some 1000km away. Got home after midnight, went to work next day and my boss rushed into my office, said ''YOU ARE ALIVE, YOU MADE IT!!!!!'' with relief. They had blasted into an underground lake, the shift boss and 3 others going down on inspection met the water going up the shaft. They did not survive. Chaos. Nobody knew who was in, our mine was informed we might have drowned but did not want to phone the wives to ask if we made it home for obvious reasons. The whole mine some 800m deep flooded to about 100m from suface. The power demand tripled with the pumps installed to dewater the mine and it was months before it got back into production. I heard the reason, which is in none of the reports, was that to save time they were not cover drilling (drilling small deep holes every 30metres to look for this sort of thing and to pump in concrete at pressure to seal up fractured wet rock). 4 little words, the only reason I am alive today after what was an uplanned visit which occurred after my foreman met an old boss at Tsumeb which was our official visit and he invited us to Kombat and then phoned my boss to make sure we took up the offer.

If you lined up all of Simmons videos in the end it would still go twice as deep as the deepest bore hole.

Dang Simon, you're right again. I 100% wanna know low we can go...

If someone breached to the mantle, would it trigger a volcano as the pressure if the surrounding crust squeezed the molten material?

I'm surprised that you didn't mention Project Moho from the early 60's. It's purpose was to deliberately drill completely through the crust into the mantle. The dividing line is called the Mohorovičić Discontinuity (named for the Croatian scientist who theorized it). They started drilling in the middle of the ocean since the crust was only about 10km thick there.

We can dig until we awake the Balrog. I am a dwarf and I'm digging a hole, diggy diggy hole.

Sounds like another "space race" for one of Elon's companies to dig in to.

What would happen if we managed to dig all the way through the crust? Would we just have a giant pit with lava at the bottom?

You've completely blown your chance for a fantastic candy-themed caramel tie in product!

4:58 Dinostaurs are my favourite kind of staminal.

So we’re just going to gloss over the whole “dinosaurs living in the Earth’s core”?

I want whatever Simon had before making this video....Loved it! 😂😂

By the way, there's now an inner inner core. 3 layers + crust. Also, the inner core isn't entirely solid -- it's too hot for chemical reactions to occur, so it sits in a strange solid-plasma phase.

I've always wondered if u dug down deep enough and breached the mantle, would magma shoot up out of the hole u just dug due to the pressure release now offered?

Id like to see an episode about the treasure hunt on OAK ISLAND in Nova Scotia

His pronounciation of "Mponeng" astounded me more than the entire video, to be honest. That was incredible.

As a child in my old hometown, I could dig almost anywhere and come up with lumps of coal. It wasn't unusual at all to find coal with plant fossils thereupon. I used to get upset that it was "just another boring plant fossil" and toss them, looking for dinosaurs. I sure wish I'd kept a few of those "boring" fossils for today.