On 6/23/2018 2:39 AM, JF Mezei wrote:
On 2018-06-22 19:58, Alain Fournier wrote:

In both cases, when the fishing line or the elevator cable snaps the
elasticity pulls back with more force than the gravity or centrifugal
force.

Centrifugal force is equal to gravity at genostationary orbit for this
setup. below that, gravity is bigger so it pulls cable down.

nope.
The orbiting object just needs to orbit faster to stay at the same
height above the earth, and it does not go down.


But what your argument does not consider is that the cable at
geostationary is travelling at roughly 9370 km/h. But throughout the
cable, all portions have the same radial speed (15° per hour, 360° per
24 hours).

the cable will bend under these conditions if very long. as the top
part is going too fast to be geostationary, and the bottom is going too
slow to be geostationary for the cable to remain normal to the Earths
surface. Short cable is ok, but not a 10,000 km one.



As the topmost portion of the cable is pulled down, its speed increases
and it now has a radial speed greater than 15° per hour.


The lower end will pull cable down (gravity) and resist beiong pulled
forward (either because still anchored or being dragged on ground
(resistance).

The higher end will respond to being pulled down by increasing forward
velocity, thus tugging on cable to move horizontally. Those two forces
should keep cable fully extended and straight. It won't be snaking around.

Any elasticity in the cable means that when the initial break at
geostationaly happens, the elasticity will pull cable down more than
just gravity. But that extra force will also result in the top most
portion accelerating horizontally. So it isn't clear that as the
tension is released, the cable would "snake".