Re: shuttle disaster

[Gary Turner <kk5st@sbcglobal.net>]

John Hasler wrote:

>Pigeon writes:
>> It would be under tension, because the upper station is outside the
>> geosynchronous orbit. So the bit above the break would fly off into
>> space, and the lower bit would fall back.
>
>The tension would taper from nominally zero at the base to maximum at the
>attachment to the counterweight.

Actually, maximum tension occurs at the CG, with minimums at the ends.
Forces are reversed, maximum at the ends, and minimum (balanced) at the
CG.  These are tidal forces.  A single point counter-weight, as opposed
to distributed, will cause a discontinuity in the function, but the
function holds true on either side of the break.
--
gt                  kk5st@sbcglobal.net
 If someone tells you---
 "I have a sense of humor, but that's not funny." 
                                  ---they don't.