Planet Doughnut

What if the world was shaped like a doughnut? Imagine for a moment that the inside of the world is hollow and the “donut hole” of the Earth floated away long ago. The center might also become the moon. On the outside of Donut Earth, things would be pretty similar to the way they are now, with land, water, air, and mountains. But the landmasses would be different, with their own unique history. All the world’s rivers would flow to the outer edge, while humans on the inner edge could look up in the sky and see the distant surface of the other side of the Earth. Also, there would be distinct differences in the strength of gravity. Imagine going to the inner edge, where the center of the donut used to be, and relaxing in a low gravity zone. Here, one could jump ten feet up in the air with ease. Even better, space travel would be easy through the center of the Donut Earth, where one would be essentially weightless, with the Earth revolving around.

This donut of a world would also have plenty of land and water, much more than the current Earth, which means there would be more of the Earth to enjoy. This means that there would be plenty of space to vacation. The Earth would also have plenty of coastline and ocean. In fact, the landmasses might line up in the center of the Earth.

One major difference, however, is that night and day would be completely different. The Sun’s light would shine only on the outside edge of Donut Earth, or Donut Earth would need to revolve on more than one axis. Either way, days would be different than they are now. There would probably still be an Arctic region in the center of the donut. From this, there would be different weather patterns, such as no El Nino. All in all, weather would be a strange phenomenon, such that tidal waves might wash over the entire circumference of the Earth. In addition, world trade and the entire human experience would be radically different. In fact, humans probably would not exist on Donut Earth, but instead another intelligent species would exist. But if humans did exist, then perhaps we would spend our days on the sunny side of the outer edge of Donut Earth, or exist entirely on the outer edge, where the sun would shine much like it does now.

World trade would also be different in that rockets could travel easily along the missing inside of Donut Earth. Maybe we would have more advanced space travel than we do now. Even better, the inside could have almost no gravity, so that people could jump many miles to the other side. All in all, Donut Earth would be a strange place.