Google's awesome new Floom tool is the distraction you need right now

Ever wondered exactly what you'd see if you succeeded in a quest to dig a hole through to the Earth's core to the other side of the world? Google's new AR tool is here to show you just that. We appreciate Google's commitment to helping us procrastinate more successfully, and this core-some offering is certain to wile away a couple of minutes (perhaps even more if you've got kids).

Called Floom, the experiment asks you to point your device at the floor, tap the tornado icon and you'll be offered a tantalising glimpse of what you'd encounter if you emerged on the other side of the globe. To spend more time with Google's entertaining tools, try out some fun Google Easter eggs, and to make your own great user experience, head to these UI design tools.

Floom uses the WebXR API to map out the results of your tunnelling, but the excitement of what you see is a bit hit and miss given a lot of the world is, y'know, under water. When we had a go the first time, it was interesting to see that the Pacific Ocean is directly through the Earth's core, but it didn't make for the most fascinating image (see below on the left). 

We also have questions about the accuracy of the tool as when we tried it again (from the same spot we might add) we got a different location (Fiji) with a much more exciting image – check it out above on the right. Go figure.

The beauty of the tool is that it kinda makes you want to try it out wherever you go to see if things have changed geographically. If you'd like an experience that's more consistently hair-raising, have a play with Google's dinosaur AR tool, or its diversely populated animal AR tool. It's always good to have a back-up activity on hand for when journeying through the centre of the Earth gets boring

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