Could regular scissors cut carbon nanotube?

[Colophon]

@SCSimmons

Yes. It looks like magic–but it’s science! There’s an upper anchor above geosynchronous orbit which wants to fall away from the Earth, as it’s being drug along too fast an orbit for its altitude; and the whole thing, on balance, is stable. (Until the asshole with the pruning shears comes along.)

Drug?

[Finagle]

@Colophon

Drug?

Yes. It’s really high.

[Chronos]

If you cut the line will it go straight up so people standing next to will be safe or maybe it will get some horizontal velocity?

It’ll start off going straight up. Coriolis effects will eventually start it moving sideways, but it’ll be well above heads (or anything else man-made, other than another elevator) by that point.

[Sunspace]

@AaronX

Can we make nanotubes long enough to cut with scissors? I thought the longest now is a few mm. I’ve seen CNT before, they looked like soot.

Depends on the size of the scissors, now, doesn’t it?

[Max_Torque]

@Senegoid

Scientist writes paper.

Shouldn’t that be “paper disproves Spock”?

[Qwertol]

@Chronos

It’ll start off going straight up. Coriolis effects will eventually start it moving sideways, but it’ll be well above heads (or anything else man-made, other than another elevator) by that point.

Are you sure? I mean look at hammer throw as an example, wire isn’t pointed towards thrower at all time during flight of hammer, in fact it rotate around steel ball quite randomly.