Things you always wanted to know the answer to [Vol. 2]

[MarshPhantom]

Would it be possible to build a structure so tall that it went out into space?

[singlecoil]

MarshPhantom said:

Would it be possible to build a structure so tall that it went out into space?

With the current state of materials technology, I should think not. Main problem would be the weight, at over 62 miles high the bottom layers would be under quite a bit of pressure. The middle layers would probably be a bit squished too.

[walm]

MarshPhantom said:

Would it be possible to build a structure so tall that it went out into space?

My (probably wrong) understanding is that even if you did, the elevators would be such a problem, no one would.

Current cable technology limits the height of buildings because at a certain distance the cable cannot support its own weight.

You would need to change elevator so many times it would be a right pain to get to the top.

Furthermore, the huge number of elevator shafts you need to support the volume of people (all of whom enter and exit on the ground floor don't forget) would mean that most of the lower floors were just taken up with elevators!!

[kowalski655]

Blib said:

Einion Yrth said:

Blib said:

How did people reach high up stuff before ladders were invented?

They didn't, that's why they invented ladders.

Well, Mr clever cloggs. If they didn't have ladders, how did that stuff get up there in the first place?

Ha!

It grew,anything up there before ladders were invented were put there by nature


(Or REALLY tall people)

And on the elevator LIFT cable point above,would it be possible to have cable-less lifts? Using magnets to drive them up & down,MAGLEV style maybe

[illmonkey]

kowalski655 said:

It grew,anything up there before ladders were invented were put there by nature


(Or REALLY tall people)

And on the elevator LIFT cable point above,would it be possible to have cable-less lifts? Using magnets to drive them up & down,MAGLEV style maybe

Sure, you first

[scarble]

I'd go first. A "normally on" mechanical brake held off by electricity, if power dies it brakes.Simples. Or.. like instead of cables at all it could ratchety clack its way up a clickity trackthing.Or, whatever, a rail gun for people, because f**kyea. Or pneumatics. But then what if the tube can't support its own weight?!? But lifts have lift shafts which are like tubes so yea.

Anyway, you lot not heard of space elevators?
iirc someone suggested this as one of the many magical applications of carbon nanotubes. Don't ask me how that works. Perhaps it is hypothetically already possible if you built a massive tube out of diamond or something, but I think that is what "prohibitively expensive" means.

[Sway]

I think, from a lot of science fiction reading, that a space elevator doesn't have all it's weight resting on the Earth.

You have an asteroid or whathaveyou at the top, and at least half the weight of the cable/tube/beam/etc. is hung from that. The other half rests on the ground. I believe some apparently workable designs then have another big lump of rock even higher that acts as a mass damper to prevent out of control oscillations.

Really stretching my recall, but I believe that it's currently possible to make structures strong enough - carbon nanotubes strengthened by a piezo electric current, aligning something or other within the structure and making it really bloody strong. Scaling that up to the size needed, and having the politic will and dosh to do so isn't quite there yet. Imagine the carnage if it snapped!

Most would be sited on the equator, not sure why but most Sci Fi books (written by people that actually know their stuff) tend to have one in Kenya.

I did read a book that had loads of detail on the things, I'll try and dig it out and correct my no doubt many mistakes...

[grumbledoak]

Sway said:

Most would be sited on the equator, not sure why but most Sci Fi books (written by people that actually know their stuff) tend to have one in Kenya.

They would all be on the equator, as you would want the asteroid at the top to be geostationary. Other orbits would try to wrap the cable round and round the planet until the asteroid 'landed'.

[Dr Jekyll]

grumbledoak said:

They would all be on the equator, as you would want the asteroid at the top to be geostationary. Other orbits would try to wrap the cable round and round the planet until the asteroid 'landed'.

Does that mean it would have to be 20,000 miles high? That would give even the maddest of mad inventors pause for thought.

[grumbledoak]

Dr Jekyll said:

Does that mean it would have to be 20,000 miles high? That would give even the maddest of mad inventors pause for thought.

Wiki says 22,236 miles, so it probably isn't that. Whatever the correct height for a geostationary orbit is, it's that. That's one long bit of string.

[singlecoil]

Original question was about reaching space, not geo-stationary orbit. So the target is 62 miles. That's still quite a lot.

[Dr Jekyll]

But there is an argument that geostationary is in some respects the easier option than requiring the structure to support it's own weight.

[singlecoil]

It's a very weak argument though, due to the high strength/low weight requirements of the material.

[General Price]

gingerbeard said:

What are these? they hang on the power lines near some water on my way to work

They are for swans and geese,helps them see the power lines so they don't fly into them.

http://www.clydesdale.net/view_products_02.asp?pro...

[Willy Nilly]

IIRC the Rosetta mission is to find out if "life" and water was delivered to earth on a comet. Shirley that still doesn't answer the question about where life and water came from. It's like a child asking where milk comes from and the parent replies "a shop" when the correct answer is a cow.

[Scousefella]

Shaolin said:

Asterix said:

Wait until they hit 36yrs 3months and 4 days.

Instant Hag.

There is something in this principle. Certain races do seem to go very much downhill after a certain age looks wise.

This is very true, I often see beautiful ladies of sub-continental Asian origin - absolute crackers, then you see the mother who seems to have sucked on an airline and forgot to turn off the compressor!!!!

[SpeckledJim]

Willy Nilly said:

IIRC the Rosetta mission is to find out if "life" and water was delivered to earth on a comet. Shirley that still doesn't answer the question about where life and water came from. It's like a child asking where milk comes from and the parent replies "a shop" when the correct answer is a cow.

Well, it's really more like the child saying 'did the milk come from a shop', and the parent saying 'I don't know, lets find out'.

You can think it's not important information, but the scientists think it is.

[goldblum]

IIRC water comes from hydrogen and oxygen?

[mybrainhurts]

Every time I listen to the weather forecast, I only hear the first twenty seconds before I go into a coma. Why?

[OddJoe]

If the human race is wiped out, except for, say 5 women and 5 men, is that enough to repopulate the world without having loads of mongs running around?