XPost: sci.space.policy, sci.physics   
   From: fjmccall@gmail.com   
      
   Alain Fournier  wrote on Tue, 19 Jun 2018   
   19:45:53 -0400:   
      
   >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.   
   >   
      
   That would be me, although the 'obvious things' you mentioned were no   
   help at all.   
      
   For some reason known only to my tiny mind it was thinking of the   
   tether structure as having zero tangential velocity.  That meant that   
   as it fell the Earth would rotate out from under it, leading to a fall   
   to anti-spinward.   
      
   Of course, that's absolutely wrong, since the further up the cable you   
   go the higher the tangential velocity has to be for the thing to stay   
   radially 'still'.  That means as it falls the upper portions of the   
   cable will 'outrun' the surface of the Earth and it will fall to   
   spinward (to the East), which is what you said.   
      
   DOH!   
      
      
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