What would happen if we connected a rope from earth to space?

Question

what would we see as the earth rotated, would the rope break, will it stretch...i know this is totally random, but any astronomers willing to answer.. :)

Answer 1

Space is not a solid object to which you can attach something.

Answer 2

first show me the rope then we'll worry about other details.

Answer 3

<yep on the space elevator.  They're actually thinking of doing this...they meaning nasa et al.  I think it was Arthur C Clarke , the writer, who first proposed it...but with strong carbon fiber instead of rope, it may work.  

Answer 4

This is essentially what is known as a "space elevator." If you create a cable that is long enough to reach beyond geosynchronous orbit, and attach a counterweight at the other end, then it will stay stretched taut. You could then make cars like elevator cars able to climb it and lift things into space much more safely and economically than by traditional rockets.

You would have to build these very near the equator, though, or else they would sway north and south and probably snap very soon.

Answer 5

That can work, if you have a strong enough cable. As others have said, it is the space elevator idea. The recently invented carbon nanotubes may be a strong enough material to make such a cable, so NASA and other groups are seriously studying the idea.

Answer 6

that would work, if instead of rope it was something stronger like carbon fibers as mentioned by the others  

Answer 7

Read Kim Stanley Robinson's MARS series. It's pretty good fiction, and it tells about the uses and abuses of space elevators. The books are:

1. Red Mars

2. Green Mars

3. Blue Mars

There's also a book of short stories, "The Martians," that serve as filler and background material for the three main books of the trilogy.

Do you know what happens when someone cuts the counterweight of a space elevator loose? The counterweight takes off through interplanetary space, maybe even leaving the solar system, while the elevator - cable, geosynchronous station, and all - come crashing down, wrapping around the planet's equator, causing "nuclear bomb" level of explosions all the way.

Space elevators have great advantages over rockets. But they do have their own set of risks, as well. In fact, given the historical propensity of NASA for tolerating "barely good enough to work most of the time" engineering, it might be wise not to build the space elevator. Or else to build it on the condition that those who build it shall be responsible for damages if things go wrong. And, if the parties cannot pay with their fortunes, then, why, they shall pay with their lives. Then, I think, we'd get quality hardware.