On the other hand, I cannot say for certain that it would be stable - that the equilibrium would ever reach a "steady state".Īnd even all of that assumes zero-point-zero friction at all points and some perfect way of having the Earthside attachment point run smoothly along the Earths surface (at no point will the circular "track" be perfectly circular due to the Earth's axis, equator and Moon orbit not being perfectly lined up.) Shortening the rope to decrease curvature will increase tension, which in turn will pull the Moon closer, producing more "slack". I assume that the Moon's orbital altitude would be reduced, taking up some of the tension with centri-fugal/petal force.Īnd that the rope will eventually adopt some stable/standing conformation other than a straight line, probably a smooth curve, possibly some kind of standing wave. Well its hard to imagine that the rope would not be under tension, so there will be some extra attractive force between the bodies, meaning that the two bodies will adopt some other equilibrium than that which they are in now. Very simple, very quick top-of-my-head impression? You are not only asking how a very long flexible strand (describing how long flexible strands act under various forces can actually get very complicated due to the sheer number of degrees of freedom - think of a chain with infinitely small links) will act whilst within the influence of two dissimilar gravity wells, but also how the attachment of both ends effects the dynamics.Īnd thats ignoring the complexity of having the Earth rotate very much faster than the Moon orbits and that you cant attach the rope to the geometric centre of either body. I think that this is a deceptively simple question. What if you linked the surface of the Earth and the surface of the Moon with an indestructible (and impossible to tear out) rope? I'm assuming the "linking" is made while the Moon is as close as possible from Earth, aligned to its equator, and that the rope is as short as possible.
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