Slashdot Mirror
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.
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.
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.
"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
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.
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
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.