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Space Elevator Going Up
Adlopa writes "The
Guardian newspaper reports on scientists' efforts to realise the space elevator, as first described by Arthur C Clarke in his 1979 novel 'Fountains of Paradise'. Advances in materials science mean that 'a cable reaching up as far as 100,000km from the surface of the Earth' is no longer an impossibility and 70 scientists and engineers are discussing the idea at a conference in Santa Fe today."
will it have a 13th floor?
-knowles
At about a third of the way along the cable - 36,000km from Earth - objects take a year to complete a full orbit.
Uh oh...
~ Give me 101 plastic soldiers, and I will conquer the world.
Shredded plane. (strong cable - duh)
And the lowest note ever twanged.
Imagine the fact that the tip would accelerate as it fell...most of it would end up burning up in the atmosphere.
That's true, the risk of the thing falling down and crushing people is almost zero. But there is another problem: if it burns, will the resulting particles be hazardous for us to inhale? There's research going on about that.
But But But
When a cable under stress breaks it can cut right thought metal...
When this long whip breaks, it will slice right thought the earth!!
Thats the longest extension on a CAT-5 I've ever heard of, I'd go with wireless instead.
You'd also have God's wrath to deal with when he trips over it when going to the fridge for a midnight snack.
If you outlaw the law, only criminals will have laws
Pretend that I posted a lame joke about listening to elevator music for a very long time. Then mod me up as "Funny". Half of the so-called "Funny" posts aren't, so this one will fit in nicely.
It _is_ pretty scary to think about a paper thin ribbon of material falling on your head. It would probably get in your hair and necessitate a shower and a vigorous shampooing.
Okay, done. What's the next step?
TWW
"Encyclopedia" is to "Wikipedia" what "Library" is to "Some people at a bus stop"
...about the space elevator is when the kid who launched his satellite just before you mashes every button before getting off.
I can only shudder when I think about the new pick-up lines that arise once it is complete.
;)
"Hey Sweetie, wanna see my Space Elevator"
or
"Guess what is 3 feet long and DOES NOT reach into space"
and
"Let's play Space-elevator; I've got the cable, and you're gonna be the counterweight"
+++ MELON MELON MELON +++ Out of Cheese Error +++ redo from start +++
smooth, I love how you stuck that in there. Invented by Heinlein in '30's IIRC, He was trying to design a better hospital bed. I don't believe he ever actually built one, though.
"3rd floor; stereos, TVs, radios..."
"203rd floor; binoculars, range finders..."
"56,304th floor: parachutes, hang gliders..."
"124,202nd floor; helium baloons, oxygen tanks..."
"973,404th floor; motion sickness pills, glare filters..."
Carbon nanotubes are primarily, well, carbon. ... Potentially less toxic than second hand cigarette smoke.
What if it was made of marijuna nanotubes? Imagine a fatty from here to the moon? That would be some serious toking.
With condolences to Tommy Chong.
When information is power, privacy is freedom.
Whoops. Sorry. BrainNotWorkingException();
Indeed, the article should be talking about space elevators, not escalators.
John_Chalisque
In this case you could potentially hang UP above Santa Fe.
Any technology distinguishable from magic is insufficiently advanced.
Static electricity, by definition, doesn't move, so it's useless.
:D
Not true. You can harness it's awesome powers to make inflated balloons stick to the ceiling, after you rub them on your head. You can generate it by running your feet on the carpet in the winter, and touching your brother, making him leap 3 feet. It makes pulling clothes out of the dryer much easier: Just grab any one piece, and the rest stick to it.
Ok, not the most useful applications, but still fun.
Tequila: It's not just for breakfast anymore!
Dragons.
I read a documentary about this once. Different colored (gold, bronze, brown, blue, green) dragons shall fly around protecting us from the falling thread. They fly fast, they fly between, and the burn the elevator as it falls.
Pilots of varying genders and ages ride the dragons, communicating with them telepathically.
The close telepathic connections, the sensual relationships between dragon and human are corrupting of course to the rest of society, and eventually all become obsessed with the dragon writers of porn.
Ah, but what about centrifugal force. If his eyes were rolling very fast the resulting heat from the friction would destroy the eye socket and the eyes would simply roll out, no longer secured to the body.
read my blog
musings on politics and technol
70 scientists and engineers are discussing the idea at a conference in Santa Fe today
Translated: 70 geeky guys are prowling about looking for cheap women and booze. And on somebody elses nickle.
That's because the Sun rotates around the Earth, and it takes a full year to complete the orbit. Wouldn't it be easier to anchor the top of the elevator to the celestial dome and not have to worry about how fast it turns?
Ceci n'est pas une sig
I live on the fourth floor of an apartment complex and it takes about 3 minutes for the elevator to reach ground floor, another 2 for it go up to the fourth floor. It's faster for me to climb the stairs. How long will it take this thing to go up to the ISS?
Learn something new.
And when we discover life on mars, we'll know the egg came before the chicken.
Ceci n'est pas une sig
"I personally hope we continue building what Sci Fi writers write about."
I'm just waiting for my light-saber.
So even at 100KPH it takes 15 days up or down?
I'd imagine that theme would get old on the way up.
Baaaaaaaa....
Baaadaaaaa....
Baaaaaadaaaaa...
BAAADAAAA BUM BUM BUM BUM BUM BUM BUM
i mean jeez.
You like your new Mac more than you like me, don't you, Dave? Dave? I asked...She said Yes.
Dude, now the terrorists know about his bed.
I foresee an enormous tourist interest, to the point that someday several elevators will be sent up exclusively for tourists to use.
Yeah, but imagine the security screening they'll have to go through... Probably make an alien abduction feel like a casual glance....
Well, we could always use it for propulsion. Make the counterweight a giant shirt and the elevator out of socks and the elevator will shoot right up there.
I'm not shy, I'm stalking my prey
While it has 0 lateral motion WRT the surface, it is still in orbit.
As sections of the cable drop lower, their orbital velocity will increase WRT the ground, and the cable will try to "wrap" itself around the planet.
By the time that most of the cable hits thicker atmosphere, it will be going at a pretty good clip, and will burn up (even the light, "fluttery" ribbon sections).
Here is an experiment that you can try in the safety of your own home to verify this:
- Evacuate all of the air from a room (to prevent stray air currents from skewing the results).
- Drop a ball from a height of, say, 6-10 ft or so.
- Note where the ball landed WRT its release point.
You will see that the ball landed several microns East of its release point (and a few microns toward the equator, as well).A few microns might not sound like much, but multiplied out to 36,000 miles, that's a lot of microns.
Those who sacrifice security to condemn liberty deserve to repeat history or something. - Benjamin Santayana