Comment on If a Space Elevator became a reality, wouldn't the cable act as a kind of wick for all of the unfiltered radiation from outside our atmosphere?

heyWhatsay@slrpnk.net ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

• anomnom@sh.itjust.works ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

  Yeah the dearth of destruction left by it falling would be insane. I assume it would have to be built along mainly west coasts to mitigate risks.

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  • Zos_Kia@lemmynsfw.com ⁨5⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

    A space elevator is dominated by angular momentum and centrifugal force, not by Earth’s gravity. There’s no way for the cable to be pulled down to earth unless you strap rockets on it to slow it down, but even then that’s gonna cost a lot of fuel.

    That scene in foundation was not accurate, if the cable snaps at some point it’s not going to magically decelerate from earth’s rotation speed to slow enough to be pulled down. The outer part will probably fly away and the inner part sort of hover in place.

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  • I_Fart_Glitter@lemmy.world ⁨21⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

    Dearth means “a striking lack of,” as in “dearth of evidence.” (No evidence)

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    • anomnom@sh.itjust.works ⁨13⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

      It was supposed to say “death and” autocorrect had other ideas I guess.

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      • tomcatt360@lemmy.zip ⁨11⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

        Its still funny to read this as you having a concern about the striking lack of distruction caused by space elevator collapse. Maybe the elevator debris all got thrown into orbit?

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  • SpacetimeMachine@lemmy.world ⁨22⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

    By the necessities of its design a space elevator has to reach geostationary orbit, which would make it tall enough to wrap around the planet twice if it fell. Wouldn’t really matter if you built it on a west coast or not.

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    • deranger@sh.itjust.works ⁨21⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

      A geostationary orbit is ~35,000km from the surface of the earth. The circumference of the earth is ~40,000km. It can’t wrap around once, nevermind twice.

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      • SpacetimeMachine@lemmy.world ⁨20⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

        Ah thanks, I was a dingus and looked up the diameter instead of the circumference. Still doesn’t really matter where you build it. No matter what it’s fucking up a a good portion of the equator if it falls.

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      • bufalo1973@piefed.social ⁨15⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

        And not all would fall. Part of it would be launched outwards by inertia.

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    • MotoAsh@piefed.social ⁨20⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

      Actually, a good ways passed geostationary orbit if I remember correctly. It needs centrifugal force to keep the cable taut, since it won’t be supporting its weight from the surface.

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