XPost: sci.space.policy, sci.physics   
   From: alain245@videotron.ca   
      
   On Jun/18/2018 at 11:00 PM, Fred J. McCall wrote :   
   > Alain Fournier  wrote on Mon, 18 Jun 2018   
   > 21:06:46 -0400:   
   >   
   >>   
   >> You put the cable on an east coast.   
   >>   
   >   
   > Uh, do you mean west coast?  If the thing falls isn't it going to lay   
   > out along the direction of spin, which means it falls to the west.   
      
   Uh, no I meant east coast.   
      
   At least one of the two of us is making a very silly mistake here. So   
   I'm going to say some very obvious things, I don't know where the very   
   silly mistake is but it should be among these obvious things.   
      
   The Sun rises in the morning towards the east and sets in the evening in   
   towards the west. But it isn't really the Sun that is making an east to   
   west journey, the perceived motion of the Sun is caused by the rotation   
   of Earth in the opposite direction. So the direction of Earth's spin is   
   eastward. If a space elevator is anchored to Earth near the equator, it   
   will necessarily spin with Earth, the direction of spin of the elevator   
   is also eastward. So yes as you said the elevator is going to lay out   
   along the direction of spin, but that is eastward not westward. If the   
   elevator cable breaks, the bottom part will start falling while spinning   
   eastward, at first spinning at 1 revolution per day, just like Earth. So   
   at first in the rotating reference frame of the ground it is just going   
   down. When you tighten up something that is rotating, like a figure   
   skater pulling in their arms, that increases the rotation rate. So the   
   cable will be going eastward faster than Earth.   
      
      
   Alain Fournier   
      
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