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what would happen if a carbon fiber rope was tied to the empire state building and spanned to space a few thousand miles away would it fall back to earth, would the building be pulled into space?

Do you mean the other end of the rope was a few thousand miles into space?

The rope would brake, and then fall to the Earth after orbiting a few times.

lets say its doesnt break

Originally posted by Colossus-Big C
lets say its doesnt break

If the cable was strong enough to resist the braking, then the mount on the building would brake.

so if a object on earth was tied to it it would be pulled into space? would it have to go escape velocity or it would slowly be pulled into space?

Originally posted by Colossus-Big C
so if a object on earth was tied to it it would be pulled into space? would it have to go escape velocity or it would slowly be pulled into space?

It would tear the building apart.

Look up Space Elevator.

Originally posted by Shakyamunison
It would tear the building apart.
What if the building was in a net of this fiber, so that the pull was distributed? Would it stay anchored? If it did, would this 1000-mile fiber start spooling around the Earth as the planet rotated?

It should fall, unless there's a weight on the end.

it would depend on a lot of factors

-how tense is the rope?
-what, if any, pull is the object in space having on the building?
-under what power is the object in space staying there? Is it's orbit geosynchronous?

Originally posted by Symmetric Chaos
It should fall, unless there's a weight on the end. but theres no gravity in space most of the rope is in space with the end of it a good distance from the planet

i dont think it will fall back if the end is farther than satelites that dont fall to earth

Originally posted by Colossus-Big C
but theres no gravity in space most of the rope is just suspended in space a good distance from the planet

?

there is lots of gravity in space

with no other form of propulsion, the rope would fall to earth

Originally posted by inimalist
it would depend on a lot of factors

-how tense is the rope?
-what, if any, pull is the object in space having on the building?
-under what power is the object in space staying there? Is it's orbit geosynchronous?
tense enough not to break (indestructable for all intents)

Originally posted by inimalist
?

there is lots of gravity in space

with no other form of propulsion, the rope would fall to earth but arent there things floating around earth that never falls to it?

well i guess the moon gravity is acting on the other end of the rope

Originally posted by inimalist


with no other form of propulsion, the rope would fall to earth so your saying if the end of the rope was any distance into space lets say a light year away it would fall back to earth?
(the rope being unbreakable that is)

Originally posted by Colossus-Big C
i dont think it will fall back if the end is farther than satelites that dont fall to earth

Satellites are in orbit. A rope tied to the Earth would not be in orbit.

If this rope is tethered to the Empire State Building, but to nothing in space, Earth's gravity would pull the rope back down to ground level.

Originally posted by Colossus-Big C
tense enough not to break (indestructable for all intents)

I mean, how loose is the rope? Is it pulled tight, or is there slack in it?

Originally posted by Colossus-Big C
but arent there things floating around earth that never falls to it?

yes, but these things generally have some type of propulsion systems within them to make the corrections necessary to keep them in orbit. Satelites that don't, generally are in a retrograde orbit such that it would take them a long time to actually return to earth.

What is important, while objects like the rings of saturn or others may actually be able to circle a planet indeffinatly, it is a very delicate balance. Further, none of these things have part of themselves attached to earth. The fact that the rope is attached to earth means that it will be under the power of earth's gravity, and I don't suspect rope length would change that at all.

Originally posted by Colossus-Big C
well i guess the moon gravity is acting on the other end of the rope

the rope is really insignificant in this problem, dude

you need to define what it is anchored to more than anything

Originally posted by Colossus-Big C
so your saying if the end of the rope was any distance into space lets say a light year away it would fall back to earth?
(the rope being unbreakable that is)

if we consider that all the space between earth and the end of the rope was empty and the rope itself is not moving at escape velocity, yes

realistically, it would probably end up caught up in the gravitational forces of the sun or galaxy, which would overpower the small amount that a single end would recieve on earth. At this point though, we would probably have to take the mass of the rope itself into consideration (it would generate some gravity on its own)

but really, it is more important that you describe what you think the rope is anchored to

I imagine it would take an incredible amount of force to pull something as large as the Empire State Building into space. So unless the cable is being towed by some super space shuttle I don't think the building will even jiggle.

on one side it is anchored to the empire state building on earth

on the other end its attached to a 1million ton block of iron in space far enough not to fall to earth normaly

Originally posted by Colossus-Big C
on one side it is anchored to the empire state building on earth

on the other end its attached to a 1million ton block of iron in space far enough not to fall to earth normaly

how is the rock moving?

aside from that, the rock would seem to have more density, and given it is a single piece of iron, rather than assembled bricks, as the rope was pulled in different directions it would, depending on the momentum of the rock, either break the anchor out of the empire state building (if the rock is moving) or pull the rock to earth (if it were not). I guess if there rock were in some type of geosynchronous orbit with the building, and no momentum were generated either toward or away from earth, it might find a type of equilibrium, though I think this would only be a theoretical possibility, impossible in practice.

It is possible that the drag of the rock would put enough strain on the anchor at either end, and might break it off there. Given this is space, I find this unlikely.

Originally posted by Colossus-Big C
so if a object on earth was tied to it it would be pulled into space? would it have to go escape velocity or it would slowly be pulled into space?

Shaky is a structural engineer; now he's actually in his element.

So...no spooling?

Originally posted by Mindship
So...no spooling?

If you had a rope that stretched from the Earth 1000 miles into geostationary orbit, then the speed at one end of the rope would not be the same as the other end (at the equator, the Earth rotates at 1038 mph. 1000 miles up, the other end of the rope would be traveling ~1298 mph). This would cause the rope to want to tumble, but one end is attached to a building. If the rope and building was strong enough to withstand these forces, then the rope would fall to the Earth. I doubt there will be any spooling, but I don't know for sure.

It would stay straight and spin with the earth if it had the correct counter weight on the other end, this is what some are actually working on builing a space elevator

I'm surprised no one caught my mistake: a wire "only" 1000, or even 10,000 miles long, could not spool around the Earth's 25,000-mile circumference.

So what if astronauts going to the moon drew out a wire 200,000 miles long? Anchored to Mt. Everest, would that spool as Earth rotated?

Originally posted by Mindship
I'm surprised no one caught my mistake: a wire "only" 1000, or even 10,000 miles long, could not spool around the Earth's 25,000-mile circumference.

So what if astronauts going to the moon drew out a wire 200,000 miles long? Anchored to Mt. Everest, would that spool as Earth rotated?

Wasn't sure if you meant spooling around the Earth or around the building.

Originally posted by Mindship
I'm surprised no one caught my mistake: a wire "only" 1000, or even 10,000 miles long, could not spool around the Earth's 25,000-mile circumference.

So what if astronauts going to the moon drew out a wire 200,000 miles long? Anchored to Mt. Everest, would that spool as Earth rotated? if it did spool around the earth would it stay in orbit or fall to earth?

it would fall to earth

EDIT: again, showing my lack of physics knowledge, aren't all orbits either anterograde or retrograde? like, isn't the idea of something just "orbiting" another body sort of untrue? Like, the moon is eventually getting farther from earth, and our satelites are eventually coming down...

Originally posted by inimalist
it would fall to earth

EDIT: again, showing my lack of physics knowledge, aren't all orbits either anterograde or retrograde? like, isn't the idea of something just "orbiting" another body sort of untrue? Like, the moon is eventually getting farther from earth, and our satelites are eventually coming down... I believe that is the case, since otherwise would mean (I think) some sort of unchanging perpetual motion. All we see in our fleetingly brief lives are snapshots of cosmic activity.

Also: in falling to Earth, it would be interesting to speculate what type of havoc this unbreakable wire would wreak as it settled (tightened?) into place. Would it, eg, slice through landscapes? the crust?

Irwin Allen, where are you when we need you...