Comments on: It's The Great Space Coaster... Ummm... Elevator http://www.rough-equivalents.com/2008/05/its-the-great-space-coaster-ummm-elevator/ Making Numbers Fun Fri, 10 Oct 2008 21:27:34 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5.1 By: Ted Semon http://www.rough-equivalents.com/2008/05/its-the-great-space-coaster-ummm-elevator/#comment-69 Ted Semon Fri, 16 May 2008 03:30:09 +0000 http://www.rough-equivalents.com/?p=62#comment-69 Whoops - should be "...over two HUNDRED billion grams of fat" :) Whoops - should be "...over two HUNDRED billion grams of fat" :)

]]> By: Greg Bulmash http://www.rough-equivalents.com/2008/05/its-the-great-space-coaster-ummm-elevator/#comment-68 Greg Bulmash Fri, 16 May 2008 03:25:09 +0000 http://www.rough-equivalents.com/?p=62#comment-68 Ted, that rocks! That may end up in a calculator. Ted, that rocks! That may end up in a calculator.

]]> By: Ted Semon http://www.rough-equivalents.com/2008/05/its-the-great-space-coaster-ummm-elevator/#comment-67 Ted Semon Fri, 16 May 2008 03:19:53 +0000 http://www.rough-equivalents.com/?p=62#comment-67 Here's mine: There are eleven, individually-wrapped slices of Kraft American cheese in one inch. We want them individually wrapped, of course, for sanitary purposes and to make repairs to the "Cheesevator" easier. A kilometer contains 39,370.0787 inches (have to be exact, of course). One hundred thousand kilometers, then, would contain 3,937,007,870 inches. At 11 slices to the inch, these means that a Cheesevator would contain 43,307,086,570 slices of individually wrapped Kraft American cheese. Each slice of this cheese contains 70 calories and 5 grams of fat giving us a grand total of over three trillion calories (3,031,496,059,900 to be exact) and over two billion grams of fat (216,535,432,850 grams to be exact). Here's mine: There are eleven, individually-wrapped slices of Kraft American cheese in one inch. We want them individually wrapped, of course, for sanitary purposes and to make repairs to the "Cheesevator" easier. A kilometer contains 39,370.0787 inches (have to be exact, of course). One hundred thousand kilometers, then, would contain 3,937,007,870 inches. At 11 slices to the inch, these means that a Cheesevator would contain 43,307,086,570 slices of individually wrapped Kraft American cheese. Each slice of this cheese contains 70 calories and 5 grams of fat giving us a grand total of over three trillion calories (3,031,496,059,900 to be exact) and over two billion grams of fat (216,535,432,850 grams to be exact).

]]> By: Gene http://www.rough-equivalents.com/2008/05/its-the-great-space-coaster-ummm-elevator/#comment-66 Gene Thu, 15 May 2008 20:43:35 +0000 http://www.rough-equivalents.com/?p=62#comment-66 Yep, Ted is right. That's what I get for spouting off before doing research. Mea culpa. Yep, Ted is right. That's what I get for spouting off before doing research.

Mea culpa.

]]> By: Ted Semon http://www.rough-equivalents.com/2008/05/its-the-great-space-coaster-ummm-elevator/#comment-63 Ted Semon Thu, 15 May 2008 15:21:09 +0000 http://www.rough-equivalents.com/?p=62#comment-63 Actually, 100K Km IS the correct number. The Space Elevator needs to extend far beyond Geosynchronous (Clarke) orbit or else you would need a MUCH larger counterweight at the end point. Actually, 100K Km IS the correct number. The Space Elevator needs to extend far beyond Geosynchronous (Clarke) orbit or else you would need a MUCH larger counterweight at the end point.

]]> By: Gene http://www.rough-equivalents.com/2008/05/its-the-great-space-coaster-ummm-elevator/#comment-62 Gene Wed, 14 May 2008 17:51:49 +0000 http://www.rough-equivalents.com/?p=62#comment-62 The "100,000 km ribbon" would be WAY too long. The proper altitude for a "Clarke Orbit" is approximately 36,000 km above MSL. Heck, even the DIAMETER of that orbit isn't 100,000 km! OK, I just checked wikipedia and the actual Clarke Orbit altitude is 35,786 km. Sadly, bad information on the webernet made all the ensuing calculations wrong by almost 3X. The "100,000 km ribbon" would be WAY too long. The proper altitude for a "Clarke Orbit" is approximately 36,000 km above MSL. Heck, even the DIAMETER of that orbit isn't 100,000 km!

OK, I just checked wikipedia and the actual Clarke Orbit altitude is 35,786 km. Sadly, bad information on the webernet made all the ensuing calculations wrong by almost 3X.

]]> By: Trina http://www.rough-equivalents.com/2008/05/its-the-great-space-coaster-ummm-elevator/#comment-61 Trina Wed, 14 May 2008 17:40:37 +0000 http://www.rough-equivalents.com/?p=62#comment-61 You forgot something. The terrorists would need bags of cotton balls for applying all the nail polish remover. ;-) Cool site and fun retro tv themes today. Thanks! You forgot something. The terrorists would need bags of cotton balls for applying all the nail polish remover. ;-)

Cool site and fun retro tv themes today. Thanks!

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