What would happen if you had a cord long enough to be in space and earth? (For example tying a cord onto a satellite long enough to touch the ground on earth would it appear to float?)
In: Planetary Science
You are basically describing the concept of a [space elevator](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_elevator)
Essentially, you place a space station into geosynchronous orbit above the equator (technically you actually put a counterweight above GSO), and then run a cable down to the surface of the earth. This then makes getting in to orbit very simple as you can just winch your payload up the cable instead of needing to fly rockets
The issue of course is that with current materials technology we don’t have the ability (or economy) to build a cable long enough (about 35,000 km)
Short answer: (not tied to satellite) it would just fall down.
Tied to satellite: it would follow the satellites orbit of the earth. The cord would be whipped up from the earth and be a continuous loop of orbit, like a child running holding up a string on a stick. The string would follow the child’s path and direction as long as the child is running.
But if you mean that the cord is also tied to the earth and a satellite at the same time, then the answer is unknown. There’s actually a concept called “Space Elevator” which is a theoretical structure that could extend from the surface of the Earth into space. The idea is to have a cable or ribbon stretching from the ground to a counterweight or space station in geostationary orbit around the Earth. But it can’t be scientifically proven yet.
Hope that answers your question
It could vary. If attached to something in space going as fast the earth rotates then it would appear to just go in a line to it and seem to be floating. If attached to something going faster or slower it will reach its limit and pull whatever its attached to down to earth and the rope would follow it. Basically it would look like a giant kite string just you couldn’t see the kite.
it would fall to earth. space isnt realy that hard to gey to, the tricky part is ORBIT. to get to orbit you have to be on space and moving sideways faster than you fall down. this makes you fall in an eternal circle around the earth.
add a rope to this equation where 1 end is tied to the earth there is no way to move the other end without it falling to earth from just swinging.
There ia a space elevator concept, but that requires a much longer rope that goes past GEO (basically the farthest out satilites), so its a different thing really
here’s an easy thought experiment.
imagine being on an airplane and dropping a cable to the ground, letting go completely. as you can imagine, the cable just flops to the ground because gravity pulls it down and nothing counter acts the gravity.
now imagine dropping one end and holding the other. if there were no air drag, the free end of the cable would move along the ground at the speed the airplane is moving. that’s because you have gravity pulling down and a counterforce (you pulling up) and the airplane pulling the whole cable “forward” along its flight path.
now, assume the cable is super strong, and it was attached to both the plane and the ground. of course the plane would eventually get pulled to the ground not because of gravity (lift counteracts gravity for the plane) but because the plane is traveling along an arc concentric with the ground curvature.
now imagine instead of a plane, it’s a satellite. satellites don’t hit the surface as they move because they’re actually “falling” *around* the earth. that’s what it means to orbit. the satellite is moving with a lateral speed faster than it’s falling, and in the case of a geo synchronous orbit the combined rate matches the rotational speed of the earth.
the latter case is how you’d have a cable extend straight up into space: something has to be pulling on it to contract gravity *and* has to be moving in a geosynchronous orbit (or rather the “center of mass” has to but that’s more technical)
Latest Answers