Research 11-27

Politics of joining nations with tunnels:

Chunnel--approximate 50-50 split in responsibility for construction and costs. Begun from both UK and French coasts and met in middle. Customs and border controls are implemented at opposite ends of tunnel. (You are considered on your destinations country's ground upon entering the train.) The trains are managed by an international joint operation between France, UK, and Belgium called Eurostar.

Why Tunnels?

• Less impact on land than bridges--ends of bridges require much more land
  
• Less impact on environment than bridges--allows for reclaiming of land, controls/lessens pollution
  
• Safer in some cases--Seikan Tunnel in Japan was built after over a thousand people died after a typhoon sunk ferries crossing the Tsugaru Strait
• Direct travel
  

Gravity Train:

Robert Hooke, when studying gravity, hypothesized with Isaac Newton about an unobstructed object passing through the earth that would accelerate at a high velocity and then begin to decelerate once it passed the center of the earth. The deceleration would cancel out its acceleration so that it would come to a gentle stop on the other side of the earth. It would take exactly 42 minutes and 12 seconds to travel from one side of the earth to the other from practically any location. The shorter the distance, the lower the velocity, and thus the more feasible this method of travel would be for humans. On BBC, a writer hypothesizes that the same principle would apply to distances as short as 1/6 of the earth's circumference--4,150 miles.

Check these out for more detailed descriptions: YouTube, Wikipedia, Damn Interesting.