How High Can We Build?

What's the tallest THING we've ever built? How tall will we EVER be able to build?

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Links:

see two sunrises/sunsets and calculate the Earth's Radius: http://www.darylscience.com/downloads...

also HERE: http://www.astro.princeton.edu/~dns/t...

Tallest Structures TIMELINE: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline...

Tallest list incorporating building/structure distinction: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_...

falling person and terminal velocity: http://www.newton.dep.anl.gov/askasci...

KWTV, first radio mast taller than the Empire State Building: http://www.fybush.com/sites/2004/site...

radio mast collapse VIDEO: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vx4k9g...

Dubai and Burj Khalifa in fog: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vo3pY_...

Pictures of Burj Khalifa: http://www.owips.com/burj-khalifa/

Burj Khalifa and Ramadan: http://www.emirates247.com/news/emira...

Shuttle / ISS height: http://serc.carleton.edu/quantskills/...

Sunrise from orbit VIDEO: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5nF5RX...

XKCD Date Idea" http://blog.xkcd.com/2009/04/06/a-dat...

Space elevator: http://www.spaceward.org/ (be sure to enjoy the Conan Space Pirate Toy .gif)

http://www.spaceelevatorblog.com/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_el...

Another possible way to make a super-tall structure: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_fo...

• Category

  Science & Technology

[BombShopUniverse]

Arthur C Clark wrote a novel about space elevators using nanotechnology. He was way ahead of his time along with Isaac Isamov. Possibly 2 of the most brilliant science fiction authors in history. I believe approximately 70% of technological inventions come from something as simple as a science fiction book that at that given time everyone considers only theoretical and most likely impossible.

[Tommy Truong]

8:00 yes there is Nokia metal

[Antthony Grey]

we should do that... but.. THE EARTH ROTATES

[Bryce Harper]

Centrifugal force is not real it is actually momentum

[SilvaSquirrel]

But remember kids if we build too high, god will bitchslap us.

[LosDOTGamers]

I find the title so funny.

[Willoughby Krenzteinburg]

At 90% the speed of light, when one year has passed for the astronauts, about 2 years and 3 months pass on Earth. At 99% the speed of light, a little over 7 years will pass. At 99.9%, 22 years or so. As the astronauts approach the speed of light, smaller and smaller increases lead to bigger and bigger time dilations. And reach infinity AT the speed of light. However, and again, nothing with mass can go the speed of light.

[Willoughby Krenzteinburg]

This is not really a meaningful mind experiment because nothing with mass can every travel the speed of light. Even if you wanted to theoretically force an answer, you would be dealing with infinite distances (both infinitely long and short depending on your frame). The answer would be infinity whether the trip lasted a year or just an instant. What if the astronauts were only going 90% the speed of light? That can be theoretically answered without getting into dangerous territory.