Nearing Completion of Evaluation of RS system (not)

Approximately 3,963 miles, assuming that the bottomless pit is on earth.

As I see it how far "one" could lower it would depend on how much weight "one" could hold onto and for that we would need the dimensions of the rope and the strength of the holder. Since this information is not provided we can infer that this wasn't where the questioner was going. If the pit is on Earth, (which also isn't stated) then it would not be able to go past the center of the Earth as the force of gravity would then pull it the other way. This is still a nonsensical answer because long before that the rope would break under the force of it's own weight.

Again since tensile strength and load limit aren't provided, so one can only assume that isn't the answer the questioner wanted.

The correct answer to this question is: Impossible to say with the information provided.

Information needed to answer question:

1. Location of pit
2. Type of Rope (Dimension weight, etc)
3. Load limit of rope

It would then be a simple equation to figure out how long a piece would be needed to reach its own breaking point.

The answer the questioner wanted is more likely the center of the Earth answer. That answer is of course wrong, if we include things like physics and reality.

~FK

P.S. If you made the rope out of carbon 50 nanotubes composite it might just make it.

Upon further reflection, I would like to change my answer:

If this is indeed a bottomless pit, there would in fact be no gravity. Therefore there would be no force to pull the rope into the pit. The answer being, you could not lower a rope of any or infinite length into a bottomless pit.

The pit could not be on earth, as the center would be a bottom, unless it goes all the way though, at which point it would be a tunnel rather than a pit.

Could a black hole be considered a bottomless pit? It has gravity. And nobody has been to the bottom of one yet.

A pit by definition has a bottom. A hole with no bottom would be a tube.

So if a pit has a bottom, but yet is described as bottomless, is it an impossibility?

Where is poor old Don Diego? Laughing somewhere in Appalachia with no intent on giving us the answer?

However, I digress - a gentleman such as he would never do such a thing.

In literature a bottomless pit is one where the bottom cannot be seen or heard in the event you drop a stone down it.

The "bottomless" refers only to one's inability to sense the bottom. Technically the boys are right, there is no such thing as a pit without a bottom. That would be a hole.

If you really want an answer you'll need to rephrase the question with the inconsistencies and omissions removed.

~FK

P.S. Tricky thing removing omissions.

In mathematics when you are dealing with infinities as is the case here, the correct answer is ... undefined.

DonDiego apologizes for the delay. teechur and he have been traveling today, . . . and settling into a hotel room, . . . and making some money at a blackjack table. West Virginia blackjack is very good.

Winer ! Winner ! Chicken Dinner !

FrankKneeland's analysis is correct.

One can lower a real rope into a real bottomless pit only until the weight of the rope exceeds the load-capacity of the rope, and the rope breaks.