# One Mile High Skyscraper-Is It Feasible?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-mile-high-skyscraper-is-it-feasible/118780>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [July 13, 2002, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-mile-high-skyscraper-is-it-feasible/118780 "2002-07-13T14:16:47Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 3

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**Author:** ![gitfiddle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/898d66/32.png) [@gitfiddle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gitfiddle)\
**Post date:** [July 16, 2002, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-mile-high-skyscraper-is-it-feasible/118780/41 "2002-07-16T22:30:13Z")

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I read in an article about nanotubes in Discovery Magazine that there was a plan to build a 23,000 mile elevator into space.

Also, Boo Boo Foo, I couldn’t agree with you more. I live in Charleston, South Carolina where no building is allowed to be built higher than the tallest Church steeple. It is right on the water and all of the modern conveniences are there. It’s a wonderful mix of past and present, which is the problem with these high-rise cities. There would be a disconnection from the outside world. People would never leave their building never see anything but walls. To me it would be jail, but, as they say (don’t ask me who THEY are), different strokes for different folks.

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**Author:** ![GilaB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8e7dd6/32.png) [@GilaB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GilaB)\
**Post date:** [July 16, 2002, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-mile-high-skyscraper-is-it-feasible/118780/42 "2002-07-16T23:44:52Z")

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I think another problem with the elevators involves people’s Eustacian (sp?) tubes. (James Gleik, in _Faster_ comments that Nature didn’t really give us ears that adjusted to rapid pressure drops, since most people who underwent one were dead, and a lack of ear pain after such a drop was thus not a particular evolutionary advantage.) An elevator in such a building would either require repressurizing rooms with airlocks (and thus more nonproductive floor space and more waiting time to get out) or a really slow descent.

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**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\
**Post date:** [July 17, 2002, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-mile-high-skyscraper-is-it-feasible/118780/43 "2002-07-17T03:11:24Z")

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Nah. The pressure change from a 1 mile drop isn’t that great. For comparison, diving down to 33 ft underwater will cause the same pressure differential as dropping from 18,000 ft to sea level in air.

I fly non-pressurized airplanes, and I’ve flown ones that can climb at 3500 fpm. That’s WAY faster than your elevator is going to go. It’s not uncomfortable at all.

People with colds might suffer from some discomfort.

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