SOLVED. Crazy science "what-if" scenarios about earth. [s]

[Rob]

I'm trying to find this book I had in high school (mid to late 80's). There'd be different "what-if" scenarios about science. The ones I can remember were about the earth, but I don't remember if they were all about the earth. Each scenario would have a full page drawn picture, and the other page would describe the scenario. The scenarios I remember are:

1) If there were a tube that went through the earth, what would happen if you fell into it? The answer was you would stop when you reached the center of the earth.

2) If the tube through the earth had no air resistance, what would happen if you fell into it? The answer was you would speed up until you reached the center, then slow down until you reached the other side of the earth. At that point, unless you grabbed on to something, you would fall back through to the first side.

3) If the earth was shrunk down to the size of a beach ball, would you be able to feel the mountains and ocean floors? The answer was that those are so small in comparison to the size of the earth, that the shrunken earth would be smoother than a beach ball.

[Andy]

What if the Moon Didn't Exist? What If the Moon Didn't Exist: Voyages to Earths That Might Have Been maybe?

[Rob]

Thanks for the response. Unfortunately, I don't think that's it, though. I don't remember the moon being used in any of the "what it" scenarios.

[Andy]

"Discovery Teaching In Science" seems to have a section about how smooth the Earth would be if it were the size of a beach ball https://books.google.com/books?id=nVo...

[Rob]

Sorry, that's not it either.

[Debra]

While I know this isn't your book, I think it would be a book you would be interested in based upon your book search. What If?: Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions

[Rob]

Finally found this bugaboo. It's Space Puzzles by Martin Gardner.

[Andy]

Space Puzzles: Curious Questions and Answers about the Solar System for the link. Glad you found your book.