if you built a ring around the entire world with 20 ft. beams supporting it, and then if you cut all the beams at the exact same time, would the ring float? me and my buddies are all on E we were just wondering what your theories would be
The gravtitational pull would be evenly distributed along the entire circumference so in theory it would stay put. In practise however minute variations in the gravitational field and more importantly the gravitational effect of the moon would displace it and eventually it would collide somewhere with the earth.
20ft beams?! The structural integrity would not hold up against the tidal forces of the moon, which of course would send the structure back to Earth unattached.
No, even if you had an unbreakable beam and it was positioned correctly it would still crash to the earth even if you put it at the 22 thousand miles...A ring can't orbit so that's out too. Conceivably a giant ring could make a polar orbit.
Actually with the right engineering skills and our knowledge and wisdom I think such a project could be possible. Measures would need to be take to allow for movement within the structure and there would probably need to be (at least for emergency) thrusters placed strategically along the entire circumference to compensate for this as well. This is obviously a very far fetched engineering reality but in theory possible. the question is what use would it be to us. At best it could transport people to the other side of the planet in a matter of >3hours, but then what use is that to us really?
Here's a better question: You have a metal pole one lightyear long. A lightyear is how far light travels in a year, and nothing can move faster than light can. Someone pushes one end of the pole so that it hits a steel plate on the opposing end, forming morse code. Would this be faster-than-light communication?
You couldn't transfer the energy through the pole faster than the speed of light, therefore light is still the fastest way to transmit information between the two. Also, if you think about it there is also no way to verify the results of such an experiment.
