Could we pull the moon to Earth with a long chain

Originally posted by Lasheic
reply to post by Tentickles

 

In Space; Gravity effects everything. If we were to attach ourselves to the Moon for whatever reason, our Gravitational pull on each other would destabilize the pull of the Sun.

Er... no... Attaching a long chain from the Earth to the Moon would have basically no affect on each others gravity - nor the sun's. Gravity doesn't run like electrical current.

Gravity has very little to do with it. Mass and Momentum is far more important to the equation.

Let me specify. If we were to pull the moon to us as the OP asks. This might happen.

Originally posted by Doc Velocity
Not physically possible. Assuming that we could ever build a tether massive enough and strong enough and somehow move it into position, linking these two incredibly massive spheres would create a bolo effect, interrupting the rotation of the Earth as well as the orbit of the Moon. This would probably shut down Earth's magnetosphere, first of all, exposing us to lethal solar radiation. As if that wasn't enough, the resulting gravitational tidal forces would probably rip both the Moon and Earth apart.

I mean, think about it... Just one link in such a chain would have to be about the size of the state of Alaska. You'd need hundreds of such links to reach the Moon. The raw materials and the technology for such a project simply don't exist (and never will). But, if you could build such a chain, the thing would probably have a mass similar to that of the Moon itself — so the chain would warp space, just as the Earth and Moon warp space, creating its own gravity well. All of these freakish gravitational tidal forces would end up destroying Earth, Moon, and your chain.

Couple of billion years later, the first aliens come cruising through this solar system, and they find this ring of rubble where the Earth and Moon used to be, as well as this gigantic chain tumbling among the debris. The aliens just look at each other and sadly shake their heads: "Poor bastards. They tried the Planetary Winch Experiment."


— Doc Velocity

[edit on 2/22/2009 by Doc Velocity]

That's what I said! You just made it sound all shiny and new. Bravo!
post.

reply to post by nixie_nox


i really cannot bring myself to address the notion of ` reeling in the moon with a chain `

but i will comment on your last point - to abseil from the heihest point to the lowest in the grand canyon [ published depth 1828m ]

assuming you could rig a single verticle pitch - the rope would weigh as little as 110kg [ beal spelenium gold - 55gms / m ]

apart from the problems of having to join 10 reels of rope together - not unsurmountable

you would have to have independant support for the rope below you - as its weight at the top > 100kg would make it difficult to operate ant descender device

also - you would need to cool your descender - as no availiable design could cope with the heat build up of a 1800m descent without melting the rope

but apart from those minor issues - yup its possible

appologies for going off topic

reply to post by Lee_K


check out www.moonestates.com... the whole thing looked like a joke at first but i checked it out and its all legit i received the title deeds and mineral rights and all paperwork the other day

cheers

Ok heres what I am thinking right now... "Lets do some planet fishing" Maybe this is like an alien sport?

Ok but on another note. If we reeled it Maybe just Maybe we could make them just touch enough to get our magnetic field etc etc to rub off on it. Thus killing off the life that is already on there and then creating our own. yes them great moon men.

I think this topic is one of the funnest thus far I will keep an eye. Also what would happen if we got mars into almost the same position as earth just far enough away that it wouldnt affect anything on earth and left it there for say 4.5billion years?

While we are at it we could drain the core of the sun with a straw, thus solving the energy crisis for the west and charging the third world to use our energy we would have to keep in 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 McDonald coffee cups due to the intense heat. We could power heat lamps with the energy to stave off the cold due to the fact the star would be dead however free electricity all round

Let's do this but I'll consult my dentist first before anything else