Skip to content
Search AI Powered

Latest Stories

WATCH: Video Shows How Deep Humans Have Dug Underground

WATCH: Video Shows How Deep Humans Have Dug Underground


Business Insider shared an animated video showing how far humans have dug underground through using many examples to provide perspective, and it is fascinating to the core.

A journey to the center of the earth would take a lot longer than you'd expect, so you might want to shelve any ambitions your parents instilled in you of digging a hole all the way to China.

What humans are capable of so far is already mighty impressive.

The video illustrates human excavating accomplishments beginning with a scratch on the earth's surface to where we ultimately wind up. Six feet under.

The typical grave is 6 feet down. Most Olympic swimming pools are 10 feet deep. Nile crocodiles dig burrows as deep as 39 feet deep. The Paris Catacombs are 65 feet underground.

Fascinating facts highlight our journey as we continue our descent to the lower depths.

The ancient city of Derinkuyu lies 279 feet below Turkey. The Greenbrier Bunker in W. Virginia is 720 feet underground. It was built to keep Congress safe in an emergency.

Need some perspective as to the scale of how far we've come? In the first example, the video uses a Parisian landmark for reference.

If the Eiffel Tower were buried up to the tip the base would reach down to here. The Woodingdean Well is 1,285 feet deep. It's the deepest hole that humans have dug by hand.

33 Chilean miners were trapped in a mine for about 2 months in 2010. The Burj Khalifa would go 2,722 feet below the surface. The deepest known point in a cave is in Krubera Cave in Georgia. Switzerland's Gotthard Base Tunnel is the deepest railway tunnel. Mponeng in South Africa is the world's deepest gold mine.

Humans have now exceeded the depths below the ocean floor, and that drilling project spans over four decades. How's that pressure in your ears?

The Kola Superdeep Borehole is only 9 inches wide. Russian scientists have been drilling it since 1970. It's now deeper than the deepest part of the ocean. The bottom is 356˚F, which is too hot for drills to go any further.

We have reached the farthest we could go. So far.

In 2012, Exxon completed the Z-44 Chayvo Well. This oil well is the deepest humans have dug.

Regarding reaching the center of the earth, we've barely pierced the earth's crust. It would take another 6o,000 feet to accomplish that. It's still a long journey with 21 million feet to go before reaching the center.

So how big are you feeling now?

Twitter can't even process the statistics of our digging accomplishments.

Flat-earthers out there had a question.

Do talk of crusts and cores make you hungry?

Maybe there's safety in not knowing.

Please SHARE this with your friends and family.

H/T - Twitter, BusinessInsider, YouTube

More from News/science

Savannah Guthrie
NBC News

Savannah Guthrie's Brother Leaves Fans Stunned With His Reaction To Her Fear That She Caused Their Mom's Disappearance

On the Thursday, March 26, broadcast of the Today show, Hoda Kotb interviewed host Savannah Guthrie about her 84-year-old mother, Nancy Guthrie, who disappeared from her home in Tucson, Arizona, in the early hours of February 1, 2026.

Nancy Guthrie was last seen on the night of January 31. Surveillance footage then showed a masked individual disconnecting her home security camera around 1:47 am.

Keep ReadingShow less
Men from TMZ video; Ted Cruz in airport
TMZ; MEGA/GC/Getty Images

TMZ Is Actually Being Praised After Asking People To Send Them Photos Of Lawmakers On Vacation

TMZ has for years generated controversy and attracted derision for its story gathering tactics, but it's actually earning a little bit of goodwill after asking people to submit photos of members of Congress on vacation during Easter break as the partial government shutdown reaches historic lengths.

Last week, President Donald Trump announced that he would deploy ICE agents to U.S. airports amid a partial government shutdown that has caused exceptionally long delays at TSA lines nationwide.

Keep ReadingShow less
Screenshot of Charles Barkley; Donald Trump
CBS; Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Charles Barkley Sounds Off On Trump's Immigration Crackdown 'Disgrace' During March Madness Rant

Former NBA star turned sports analyst Charles Barkley condemned President Donald Trump's "disgrace" of an immigration crackdown in remarks on CBS on Sunday, lamenting the fates "amazing immigrants" who have been terrorized by the federal government.

Barkley pivoted to discussing immigration after CBS ran a feature on University of Connecticut star Alex Karaban, whose parents are immigrants from Eastern Europe.

Keep ReadingShow less
Gavin Newsom; Donald Trump
Steve Jennings/Getty Images; Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Gavin Newsom Rips Trump After Report Reveals Massive Amount Taxpayers Have Spent For Trump To Go Golfing

President Donald Trump's trips to his golf courses have cost taxpayers a fortune in his second term, prompting California Governor Gavin Newsom to criticize him for the massive tab in a post on X.

Trump’s golf outings have cost taxpayers at least $101.2 million in travel and security expenses since he returned to office. That total is about two-thirds of what his golf trips cost during his entire first term and puts him on pace to spend roughly $300 million by the end of his second term.

Keep ReadingShow less
Joe Rogan; JD Vance
The Joe Rogan Experience; Heather Diehl/Getty Images

JD Vance Weakly Claps Back After Joe Rogan Says MAGA Is Filled With A 'Bunch Of F—king Dorks'

Former actor, comedian, and Fear Factor host turned podcaster Joe Rogan has spent years profiting off the conspiracy theorists, Christian nationalists, and White supremacists that make up the MAGA movement.

But lately, Rogan has gone from enabling Republican President Donald Trump and his cronies to criticizing them.

Keep ReadingShow less