Theoretically speaking if you dug a hole from one end of the earth to
the other and jumped into the hole feet first would you come out the
other end feet first?
Also, supposing you came out of the other end would you carry on into
orbit.. ?( unlikely I know).
If the hole was a vaccuum would it alter the results?
Finally if you had to dig the hole manually, would you end up digging
upwards once you get past the 1/2 way point..

Thanks.

It seems that the rotation of the Earth means that you would not fall
straight through but would get pressed up against the side of the
hole.

"Re: What would happen if you could drill a hole through the Earth?"
by Max Sang (Apr. 7, 1997)
MadSci Network
http://www.madsci.org/posts/archives/may97/860447734.Ph.r.html

See also:

"Earth Hole," by Ivars Peterson (Week of June 19, 2004)
Science News Online
http://www.sciencenews.org/articles/20040619/mathtrek.asp

If the hole ran from the north pole to the south pole, you would not
be pushed against the side, but otherwise you would.  If the hole was
too narrow to somersault in, then certainly feet first in means feet
first out.  You would not shoot out of the hole.  In the absence of
friction (air or otherwise) you would just come to a stop right as you
reached ground level.  And yes, you'd be digging upwards (through some
rather hot rock and metal) for the second half...

Incidentally, the free-fall journey of the hypothetical hole-naut
wouldn't be all that time consuming. The time to fall from one end to
the other is the same as the period of a circular orbit with radius
equal the distance from Earth's center at which the jumper initially
steps into free-fall.

The period of an orbit at Earth's surface is about 90 minutes, and so
the hole-naut will fall all the way through Earth to the other side in
about 90 minutes.

Given a hole through Earth's rotational axis, with no energy stealing
air within, the jumper could fall in at the north pole, come to a halt
at the south pole, then fall back towards the north pole, halt, and
start the whole trip over again. In broad principle, the jumper would
oscillate between the two poles indefinitely.