Elevator to the Stars

[Sudbury420]

for people who think this would be a problem because of the earth spinning they could just build a space port right at the end of the elevator right outside of the well and just keep it their

[Sudbury420]

@Sudbury420 there*

[GunnnersDK]

What about placing it where there is no Tornadoes ?? Denmark :D :D 

[MofoWoW]

I thought diamond was the strongest material known to man. Maybe diamond is just the strongest natural material known to man.

[TheD1ddler]

@MofoWoW - graphine is basically a diamond that has been flattened to a rectangle shape 1 atom thick. graphine and diamonds are both comprised of carbon

[juliusworms]

space elevator? what about glow in the dark sunglasses?

[TechnoManiac2]

The Earth spins BIG PROBLEM.

[elchicoargento]

@TechnoManiac2

yeah, but you spin along whit it all day, so no problem, the thing is that the structure doesn't fall because of the gravity

[TechnoManiac2]

@elchicoargento Weren't we talking about an elevator to the STARS.

[GarlicPudding]

@TechnoManiac2 Ever heard of geo-synchronous orbit?

[TechnoManiac2]

If I balanced my fat friend Jacob on a pencil I think the grapheme would brake.

[ASaxonAtHeart]

The very fact that he seems to be taking this question seriously makes him my favourite scientist.

[p3rUvIaNSoLdI3r]

fuck graphine, thats one strong pencil!

[ItsStyla]

@p3rUvIaNSoLdI3r aha exactly what I was thinking :P

[ultrage4]

@p3rUvIaNSoLdI3r I genuinely laughed :D

[hateyouifyoukillme]

No one will ever make a space elevator. He's just saying it possible.

[rrave24]

I hope we can watch some movies in that elevator because thats a long way up.

[carletouk]

Given enough time anything is possible

[TheJshew35]

Dr Kaku your theory's are sound. I would however say the cost of such an endeavor suggest an inset mountable fortune the world would never pay, even in the far future when the world will experience large amounts of everything. Where is the romance in an Elevator to the stars. Thank you though you have been a gift to humanity.

[whynotbig]

what bout titanium and aluminium?

[whynotbig]

@whynotbig titanium makes most of enterprise d (first contact)

[TheNightFusion]

Hmm professor Kaku has damage on the left side of his face. Weird.

[Shonenut213]

We should build an Orbital Elevator like they have in Gundam 00!

[zenthex1234]

i care because....?

[BettyTheBlindGnome]

@zenthex1234

Because you took time our of your busy day to watch.

[Firdaush0]

could you not just build the space elevator in a location where hurricanes do not happen? Also how would it get hit by a satellite, if the elevator is just going to the space station...aren't satellites in deeper space?

[722Jeslek]

MOAR Towers of Babel. MOAR.

[GreenCakeLazer]

Let's build something made of Chuck Norris

[schackmountain]

hard materials are easy to break. u can destroy a diamond with a normal hammer.

[frozenwalkway]

i want a graphene sword. 

[buggyiscool]

if youve watched any of Michio's other videos, you know that Graphine DOES EVERYTHING!

[StBurkeINC]

Every Michio Kaku response: "We're not there yet, but we're getting there."

Love every second of it.

[sniper6081]

@TheBACONFUSION That's why I said "make" one. That implies the construction of a new one.  One with such capabilities.

[VoidDestriant]

What is so difficult in getting to the stars? Piss off Chuck Norris, and he will kick you direclty into one.

[LsBaba]

How about synthetic spider silk?

[8Zeitgeist]

could you imagine the international interest in that.

build it in florida move the old people to the swamp

IF YOU BUILD IT, THEY WILL COME.

AND THEN COMES THE MONEY

THEN COMES THE POWER.

THE WORLD IS MINE!

this might take awhile...

[185tiff]

@8Zeitgeist florida would be like, one of the worst places to put it lol

[sniper6081]

What would be the point of a space elevator? How would you pay for the elevator? Who would pay for the elevator? What would its purpose be? Fuck that. Why not just make an aircraft? It would be faster and cheaper.

[Firdaush0]

@sniper6081 cheaper for one use. The elevator can be used multiple times, zero fuel besides powering the elevator, the astronauts can go home at night, how do we pay for the space program now?

[sniper6081]

@Firdaush0 You make it seem like powering the elevator wouldn't be that small a feat. Do you have any idea how much power it would take to move that thing back and forth? That's hundreds of miles both ways. The aircraft would be made for more than one use and use only some fuel for its trips, and the astronauts could sleep in the aircraft or go home at night depending on the mission. Not to mention the constant elevator maintenance would require logistics on a colossal scale.

[Firdaush0]

@sniper6081 it is a much cheaper on RESOURCES do you know how much fuel it takes to launch a space shuttle. How much it cost to launch something into space? I am not getting into the prices but its close to the objects weight in gold. Where as the elevator would be reusable. If your theory was true than we would be using rockets to go up and down buildings and not elevators. and YES the scaling is exactly the same whether it be a building or space shuttle.

[Firdaush0]

@sniper6081 Also not to mention they won't be launching people with it. Its more to transport supplies as needed, like food, satellites and so on. At first anyway.

[sniper6081]

@Firdaush0 Space Shuttle? Who's talking about a space shuttle? I was thinking more along the lines of something like an advanced SpaceShipTwo. It's smaller, dirt cheap, and reusable. By the way, you saying that the scaling between buildings and space was incredibly stupid. I'm sorry, really, but there's no light way to put it. I mean, you're comparing thousands of feet in atmosphere with hundreds, if not thousands, of miles out of the atmosphere and into space. There's no comparison.

[Firdaush0]

@sniper6081 whatever you say. I am not arguing with someone. Space shuttle 2.0 was never pointed out in your original statement. If we continue then we might as well just teleport.

[sniper6081]

@Firdaush0 I said SpaceShipTwo. Get your mind off of Space Shuttles. No one's talking about them.

[sexyloser]

@sniper6081 Aircrafts require enormous amounts of power to carry material into space, a space elevator would require very little power to send material into space. It's an issue of cost. A space elevator may cost more than several hundred aircrafts, but once built, it would quickly pay for itself with transportation of material into space.

[sniper6081]

@sexyloser And you know this how?

[sexyloser]

@sniper6081 Based on physics. It takes less energy to move a mass away from another mass if there is already something in between for the mass to push against. In this case of the space elevator, the mass (elevator) can push against the carbon nanotube cable. In the case of an aircraft, the mass (aircraft) can push against air. It requires an enormously larger amount of energy to push against air than it does to push against a solid cable.

[sniper6081]

@sexyloser You're basing the economic cost of the elevator on physics? Maybe you should base it on, I don't know, economics.

[sexyloser]

@sniper6081 Once carbon nanotubes become cheap to produce, a space elevator will be extremely cheap to operate as opposed to the hundreds of aircrafts it would require to perform the same function.

No one is suggesting that we build one while carbon nanotubes are expensive.

[sniper6081]

@sexyloser And you don't think airplanes would be that cheap and multifunctional by that point?

[16typesadventures]

@sniper6081 The cost to send one gram of payload to orbit is more expensive than the cost of one gram of gold. Part of this is the large amount of cost associated with a launch vehicle, the facilities to launch it, and the fuel. A space elevator would provide a reusable platform to transport payload to orbit that doesn't run on bulk loads of fuel and a rocket. Overtime it would enable for more efficient logistics and reduced costs.

[sniper6081]

@16typesadventures Yes, but the efficiency of aircraft in the future won't change at all and will be based solely on the space shuttle's performance in the based and not on other aircraft at all. It'll remain exactly the same and this elevator that doesn't exist yet and has no practical means of construction will be better than it based on nothing more than the idea that you know it'll be better.

[16typesadventures]

@sniper6081 Please search "space elevator economics" in wikipedia if you want a good source to begin acquiring factual information and evidence on my assertion.

[sniper6081]

@16typesadventures It doesn't matter what wikipedia says if the damn thing doesn't exist yet.

[16typesadventures]

@sniper6081 lol I can see discussing this with you is pointless. How about this instead, I say "you win" and I can go back to doing productive things and you get what you want.

[sniper6081]

@16typesadventures Oh please. If you won't to jack yourself off so badly I'm sure you can find a jar of Vaseline in your linen closet.

[16typesadventures]

@sniper6081 Um I don't know what jacking off has to do with this, but I do know that you probably mean to say "want" instead of "won't". You seem a little uptight, maybe you should take your own advice. If you are in this discussion for something other than winning how about you express that, otherwise I'll just keep praising your great victory. Sniper6081, advocate of common sense, glorious praise to thine intellect!

[sniper6081]

@16typesadventures You really didn't understand what I meant? What I meant was your efforts to talk to me are nothing more than condescension. You want to make people who don't agree with you on this look stupid while making yourself look like this intelligent knowledgeable person. Yet you completely look over the fact that you're arguing in favoring of something that not only doesn't exist yet, but that no one has any idea how to construct or what it'll be made out of.

[16typesadventures]

@sniper6081 Well let's see apparently is all the use in the world for you to argue against something that doesn't exist but its completely stupid on my part to argue for something that doesn't exist. Really if you are going to play that "card" the most sensible thing to say is that its pointless to argue at all (whether for or against) something that doesn't exist. I understood what you said its just seems very bias and one sided to your point of view.

[sniper6081]

@16typesadventures You honestly can't see the difference between arguing for something that doesn't exist and against something does versus the opposite? Let me put as simple as I can. If we work on something that already exists we'll get results. If we work on something that doesn't exist it's daydreaming. I still can't believe you're taking this space elevator thing seriously. How does this not sound ridiculous to you?

[16typesadventures]

@sniper6081 There a tons of valuable innovations and inventions that exist today that started off as nothing more than ideas. There are also tons of ideas that never made it into production because they were impractical. And there is an entire science or art to discriminating between the ideas that have potential and don't. Your opinion seems to be motivated by gut instinct, you're not even willing to review the economic analysis other thinkers have investigated.

[sniper6081]

@16typesadventures ...IT'S A SPACE ELEVATOR!!! How many times does it need to be said? It's so ridiculous and cartoony that it's unbelievable that any rational human being could even entertain such a silly notion. At least those other "crazy inventions had practicality and already known science to back them up, like lift for the airplane or chemical reactions for rocket fuel. This has nothing. No science and no practicality.

[16typesadventures]

@sniper6081 See like I said its a fruitless waste of time to try to convince you otherwise, you already have your mind made up and its based on your gut instinct to the idea. Space elevator is just a buzzword by the way, it's not an actual compression structure that is built like a skyscraper, it would actually be a tensile structure.

[sniper6081]

@16typesadventures Yeah, i know that, but that doesn't make it any less ridiculous. I still can't believe you buy into this childish idea. What are you, 12? Just because someone like Michio Kaku entertains the idea of a space elevator doesn't make it any less ridiculous.

[16typesadventures]

@sniper6081 I'd actually consider myself just entertaining the idea as well.

[sniper6081]

@16typesadventures You certainly seemed quite committed to it. If you wanted to convey that, next time you shouldn't come on so strongly.

[16typesadventures]

@sniper6081 oh please your just annoyed, I said what I wanted to in the first message I wrote to you, the rest of this has just been unproductive showmanship.

[sniper6081]

@16typesadventures And now you're trying to salvage yourself. You could just walk away. no need to stay here.

[16typesadventures]

@sniper6081 I don't feel bad at all for being condescending to you anymore, you are clearly trying to get a reaction out of me and put me down. I will not respond to you anymore sir but to set the record straight I have no regrets about what I said so there is nothing to salvage -- it's all in you head. Now you may have the last word and I'll get back to my life.

[sniper6081]

@16typesadventures Whatever.

[UltraDrago2000]

@sniper6081 being 12, i take no offence to that. i do realize half my generation is idiodic, but please next time be a little nicer and say 3.

[Jer0meLey]

umm, hmmm, if we target 1 star, the planet is moving right?? orbit and the rotation, and is the earth sturdy enough that this elevator wouldnt fall? right? i dnt think its possible een with graphine

[JackSlizer]

Wait hold on. Do i walk up this thing? Like elevators are pretty slow. It takes a minute for me to get to the top in the mall. Would I be dead by the time I got up there?

[Helge129]

@JackSlizer The elevator ride would probably take quite a while. an hour or two maybe? But it would be a lot cheaper than a rocket.

[Firdaush0]

@JackSlizer its not really for people its more for supplies so speed and acceleration aren't really a factor. basically just launching people into space and then launching supplies as needed cause its way cheaper.

[G0MaS]

maybe an elevator to the toilet would be better... :\

[d4k074p4l]

put it on the dark side of the moon... it will never have atmosphere problems and it will never collide with satellites/earth

[SpontaneousReason]

why not link the "elevator" to an object in space? not the earth.

[ot0m0t0]

How and Where do I post my question for mr. Kaku?

[zorkypoo]

Also, since the Earth rotates ... doesn't that mean that you can only go on the elevator during certain times of the day?

[Firdaush0]

@zorkypoo the other half is in a geo sync.

[MasterLuigiSW]

@zorkypoo Omg are you dumb ? The evelator would be anchored to the ground and the top would be floating in space, it wouldn't fall because of the earth rotation centrifuge force.

[zorkypoo]

@MasterLuigiSW Seriously? Do you even know what i'm talking about? Do you know that the earth rotates?

[MasterLuigiSW]

@zorkypoo The earth rotates, the ground rotates too... you just don't feel it. That's why the sun rises and goes down at dawn.

[RainbowAura]

before elevator to star... lets conquer the moon first!

[akulax2]

Space elevator as already been tested. Ive seen it

[Menuki]

Anchor it in a desert where there is almost no weather change? Seems too obvious, am I missing something?

[lost4468yt]

@Menuki Not very accessible, hard to get stuff to the middle of the desert.

[Menuki]

@lost4468yt I live in a Las Vegas, so I don't foresee accessibility being a problem.

[MacZambrottVEVO]

@NextGenRevieww nothing, i die and i dont exist any more

[plutoend99]

how about we make a giant carbon nano tube dick to fuck the rest of the universe with

[MrWadeBarrett]

Make it happen in Switzerland! Safest place on this planet...

[erikoftheinternet]

space fountain, no super strong materials needed, build it with 1950s technology.

[rmiller415]

Of all the crackpots and "scientists" that they put on history channel, this guy seems to be the most respectable.

[rhinnawi95]

Way ahead of you, bro. I just built the Space Elevator wonder in my capital city of Berlin in Civilization 4. Thank you, Bismarck, and your "Industrious" leader trait. Haha

[ImaFez]

boring ride, yes?

[bcblkshrt27]

I would be scared shitless to go the to top of a space elevator

[emikochan13]

@bcblkshrt27 people were the same with the first elevators :P

[Tengent]

It would be so majestic to make a huge huge object that can be seen from miles and miles and miles away, like a mountain except... man's. I feel like Howard Roark.

[WonderousLover]

* walk into the elevator*

Could you press mar please?

Thank you

[CheyDevillier]

What about spacial expansion.. say we had an elevator anchored on the moon and on the Earth, wouldn't the moon stretch the cable by a few centimeters a year? And ultimately destroy the elevator?

[eacao]

@CheyDevillier the moon has a different orbit as well, it would wrap the cable around the world for a little while before it snapped

[emikochan13]

@CheyDevillier the moon is already in a retreating orbit anyway, spatial expansion has no real bearing on the small scales of solar systems.

[aldoranada]

lets go to the sun weeeee

[G0MaS]

@aldoranada i used to go to the sun, then i took a space elevator to the knee... ಠ_ಠ

[dsgreat3]

Simple answer to hurricanes and monsoons put it in Europe were we don't have them

[eacao]

@dsgreat3 how bout in Australia, where its a big dessert and there is no wind up near darwin.

[dsgreat3]

@eacao ether works

[jamesbadwick]

how can a hurricane rip the strongest material?



[masteranimation2008]

@jamesbadwick The elevator shaft itself, not the graphene cable...

[VobisPacem]

Why not put it in one of the poles? There'll be less velocity to deal with.

[MoonlitVision]

How could hurricanes destroy the space elevator if it's made of graphene?

[GarrySpeaks]

@MoonlitVision I don't think the hurricane would be that direct unless the elevator is so close up to water. What I feel they should be concerned about is earthquakes..

[G0MaS]

@MoonlitVision how could you shut up if you are made of graphene? ಠ_ಠ

[KingCheesyPants]

@MoonlitVision destroyes the ground under it, and then bam.

[NorthCitySider]

@MoonlitVision

Knock it over.

[LukaStrazisar]

@MoonlitVision usual rain storms have power of multiple hydrogen bombs.. ;) that's how :D

[seporokey]

@MoonlitVision The elevator itself probably wouldn't break. The placed its housed in, and the surrounding structure may. The part that is the foundation on earth may not be made of graphene strictly for cost reasons. It is similar to how we COULD make safer nuclear reactors, but the cost make it so we have the ones we do now.

[8Zeitgeist]

@MoonlitVision a chair made of graphene that has tipped over isnt so easy to sit in ;)

[sa66o6]

@MoonlitVision It could rip it right out of the ground, not necessarily destroy the structure, but rather the place it is standing on.

[sapdude44]

@MoonlitVision it would tear the bond that we created and not the molecule itself.

[mignik01]

@MoonlitVision graphene is just used in the cable, you need something to stand on.

[L00NGB00W]

@mignik01 Graphene could be used in other components as well.

Since the space-end of the elevator would be anchored in a super-geostationary orbit, there'd be little chance of weather affecting it.

However, We might have to destroy several satellites in lower orbits if we ever do build this. A satellite colliding with the cable could cause some serious issues.

[FreeGluon]

Put it over the Mariana trench and drop it down when it's not it use then pull back up.

[DomovoiLT]

why is it so short again?

impurities?

[birkkrib1230]

Put it in Sweden and the only problem will be -10°C

[aleaf09]

@birkkrib1230 Agreed, I live in Sweden and the worst "natural disasters" I've ever seen is heavy snowfall lol

[birkkrib1230]

@aleaf09 Yeah, would be a shame if they build it and "Opss, maybe we should have tested it for -30 C before we built it @_@". Well at least we will have trains and buses this year [/Sarcasm]

[aleaf09]

@birkkrib1230 True, but I'm pretty sure that graphene would be able to hold against that temperature :p

[birkkrib1230]

@aleaf09 Maybe we should invest in graphene-trains

[CpsLock3]

This guy watched the soutpark episode of the kids trying to get to kenny with a latter to heaven didn't he?

[gnoxycat]

Ill take 2 for twice the price lets do it :D

[barbariangoth]

Ok I do understand the principle that he us stating but why do you want a space elevator? I think is not cost efficient, dangerous and the nearest planet will be to far for a plausible trip. I'm not a scientist I'm just an unemployed guy.

[BizaroMustard100]

@barbariangoth I'm not a scientist but I think it has to do with the amount of energy required to leave earth’s atmosphere. If you could start the journey a few hundred miles up you would save a tremendous amount of fuel and it could be used to take you further faster.

[wyCerBotMyNem]

hmm, why cant one just fly into space? why go vertical, just do what the airplanes do, just fly a little higher?

[Kenji314159]

@wyCerBotMyNem no. it's not effective how airplanes work. an elevator would be extremely energy efficient, nanotubes though would take a crapload of energy to be produced in this mass, so a space elevator is probably not worth considering.

[PeyoteIguana]

terrorists would just fly a plane into it

[PeyoteIguana]

wrong, my cock is the hardest substance known on earth

[lukesmall1]

I think the pencil would snap

[alo754]

And hopefully theists will not crash into the masterpiece just for the sake of their imaginary friend :(

[Fapsamup]

One question, does this means that if I have a cable that is 100 miles long, and the cable is streched out in space, I pull at one end: does that means that the other end of the cable will move instantely? If yes that means that you can make information travel faster than light. Since the two ends are connected to each other and move in relation to each other.

[BeardedBill86]

@Fapsamup I thought that aswell at one point, morse code or something like that.

However, what you have to bear in mind that even tugging a string, what's really happening is that particles are moving and they can't move faster than the speed of light.

[Fapsamup]

@BeardedBill86 That is not what I ment, the particles do not move faster than light. The pull makes one side of the rope react on the moment the other side is pulled. Only the information that is passed trough the rope goes faster than light, but that information is in essence nothing. Just me pulling on the rope at one side and having it react on the other side the moment I pull. If you have a rope that is 100 miles long and ultra tight when I pull one side the other side will instantely react?

[BeardedBill86]

@Fapsamup Indeed, but even if it's ulta taught with no slack what so ever as far as I understand the physics of it, when you pull one end what is happening is the movement is being sent down through the particles that comprise that rope and that movement cannot go faster than the speed of light.

So even if you pull one end of the rope, whats happening is a pulse of movement is moving down through the particles from one end to the other and this can only happen at a certain speed. (Cont>)

[BeardedBill86]

(>cont) This is a speed that will always be slower than the speed of light, you see even on the smallest scale there are still gaps in the rope on the particle level, or lower still on the atomic.

And since there's no material in the universe that comes close to having absolutely no gaps(it's actually physically impossible to have such a material), there will always be a delay and that delay will always be longer than the speed of light.

[WARFARENINJA]

Eh.... ok...

[ElmarBischof]

This Dude should run Presidency in the US. Probably would switch the Budged from Military to Nasa ... and then it wont take an other 100 years.

[Caligula138]

Elevator to the stars?! Pffft...  Im going to the stars this weekend

[OGkush815]

I WANT MY DICK TO BE MADE OF GRAPHENE AND NANOTUBES! IMAGINE HOW HARD IT IS BITCH!

[unamaxify]

so all we need is:

an industrial-sized molecular-replicator to manufacture the cable

&

a weather-control-device

[xStraTuz]

@unamaxify we already got the weather control device - HAARP

[unamaxify]

@xStraTuz

Isn't HAARP that ionospheric research program

I think it's a bit early to call that a weather control device, at least not a practical one.

But it might one day lead to such a thing

[EgoSumIndigentia]

Genious.

[cameronlikescats]

This dude makes simple stuff look totally smart.

[murfad]

graphene

the best material for body armours, i guess.

[ultislasher1]

I love how 20 people thumbed up that simple comment. I mean, all he/she said was

yes

(applause)

wow....

[EgoSumIndigentia]

@ultislasher1

Jealous that you don't have his charm?

[ultislasher1]

@EgoSumIndigentia don't know waht my comment said...

[Tyrroi]

We could make a space elevator out of Graphine orrrrr we could make 60 ft wafer fin TV's...

[korjeniz2]

@Tyrroi or just make both!