Earth-to-space Elevator Proposed

[dragon_bane]

Everything starts with an idea. Once the world solves it major problems science it can work it "magic"

[Barbarossa]

Originally posted by Virtualbody1234@26 October 2003 - 04:49
Just think about how high man has been able to build the tallest buildings.

Once you think about it you will realize how impossible this elevator is.

Ah, well that's the trick isn't it!

You have to build it DOWN, not UP!!

@neattairoski: You also don't need deep foundations because it's anchored in geostationary orbit, you just need to anchor it on the ground. Near or on the equator preferably. It won't sway (much) because only a small fraction of it is subjected to the atmosphere, and you can choose the position to minimize that effect anyway.

Meteors, lightning and low flying satellites, spacejunk and aircraft are the hardest hazards to overcome..

[thewizeard]

Originally posted by barbarossa@27 October 2003 - 12:15


@neattairoski: You also don't need deep foundations because it's anchored in geostationary orbit, you just need to anchor it on the ground. Near or on the equator preferably. It won't sway (much) because only a small fraction of it is subjected to the atmosphere, and you can choose the position to minimize that effect anyway.

Meteors, lightning and low flying satellites, spacejunk and aircraft are the hardest hazards to overcome..

It will never happen, but if it did, the equator seems to be a silly place. I think on the south pole, aligned withe the axis would be a better position. There would be little or no centrifugal forces to contend with....

[Neo 721]

I think this is all just an attemp to lower the cost of space travel, but they have obviosly took the ideas from the 5 year olds far too seriosly

[Will_518]

you play Alpha centauri too, cool game, 'cos a lot of the stuff are so impossible now.

Of course this thing could work, who are we to say it can't? any of us read all the stuff those scientist guys have? All we are basing our arguement on is an old movie.

Is this literally gonna be an elevantor?

[The Kiler]

Structual details people. The higher it gets, the wider it has to be. Otherwise it'll just fall down and kill everyone in earth.


I think the only thing the space elevator really has to worry about is UFOs crashing into it, making it fall and the goverment says it's a "terrorist attack"

[Is_this_name_taken_already]

First off the Idea just would not work with what we have now. Just think about it, if this "space elevator" did manage to touch the ground or even get remotely close to it gravity would do some strange thing where it would crach the elevator into the ground and ofcouse kill us all

And if it was anchored on the equator it would be under so much preasure from the Earth spinning, since the farther you are from the point of origin the faster it would have to move, it would also fall down (this would also kill us all)

next this elevator would be so astronomicly huge it would require more resources than even are available to the world (you know the building houses and stuff)

Also the cost would be a larger number than most people could comprehend such as quadrilians of dolars (1,000,000,000,000,000) well this isnt really important I mean the U.S. is already in debt for a quarter of the cost

Another point I'd like to point out is all the problems IF it was build, solare flares, earth quakes, sunomies (STFU about my spelling), wars, Osama's grandchildren crashing nuclear powered space craft into it, and ofcouse those damn UFOs hitting it when they get drunk (and you guessed it this would probably kill us all too)


So if you did manage read thsi post of spelling and grammer errors you would have noticed at some point the posiblity of the "space elevator" is just imposible

[ilw]

Umm are the last 5 or 6 people taking the piss or did you reallly not bother to try and understand how the space elevator works?
In theory the spinning of the elevator exactly matches the spinning of the earth, ie the entire thing has to be in geosynchronous orbit around the earth (hence the elevator must be located at the equator). Gravity is the unbalanced centripetal force that keeps the elevator going in a circle and not flying off into space. The entire cable (it will essentialy be a very large cable and not a building) that makes up the length of the elevator will be under tension (ie taut) NOT compression (like a building). Ie there is no weight to be applied to the earth, if it was perfectly set up and there were no weather conditions to worry about it wouldn't have to be attached to the earth at all, but would permanently hover above the exact same piece of ground. The reason why this elevator is now possible is becasue carbon nanotubes have been shown to have the tensile strength necessary to withstand the insane forces that the cable will experience.
Oh and generally in a rotating system there are no centrifugal forces (though i think in the case of the elevator there is)

[Barbarossa]

Originally posted by ilw@3 November 2003 - 10:38
Umm are the last 5 or 6 people taking the piss or did you reallly not bother to try and understand how the space elevator works?
In theory the spinning of the elevator exactly matches the spinning of the earth, ie the entire thing has to be in geosynchronous orbit around the earth (hence the elevator must be located at the equator). Gravity is the unbalanced centripetal force that keeps the elevator going in a circle and not flying off into space. The entire cable (it will essentialy be a very large cable and not a building) that makes up the length of the elevator will be under tension (ie taut) NOT compression (like a building). Ie there is no weight to be applied to the earth, if it was perfectly set up and there were no weather conditions to worry about it wouldn't have to be attached to the earth at all, but would permanently hover above the exact same piece of ground. The reason why this elevator is now possible is becasue carbon nanotubes have been shown to have the tensile strength necessary to withstand the insane forces that the cable will experience.
Oh and generally in a rotating system there are no centrifugal forces (though i think in the case of the elevator there is)

Not wanting to pick hairs, but there is no such thing as centrifugal force, it's simply inertia...


Everything else you say I agree with, but the skeptics here are too small-minded to listen..

[ilw]

there is no such thing as centrifugal force

not quite
centrifugal force is defined as a force acting away from the centre of rotation, as long as the centripetal force is great enough to combat this centrifugal force AND provide enough force to give rotating motion then it is possible. For instance the lift in an airplane doing circles around the world would basically be centrifugal. But yeah your right in most rotating systems centrifugal forces are either absent or negligible.