I have a few questions about Space Elevators if anybody can help

[gwoodsii]

I know that traveling up a space elevator slows the earth slightly and traveling down it speeds it up slightly. I also know that this is a miniscule amount.

I am curious though if this effect continues past the geosynchronous orbit point if the load were to continue on the cable towards the counter weight?

Also would any type of engine exerting a force on any point of the elevator also change the speed of rotation or would it simply destroy the elevator?

[Danijel Gorupec]

Yes, the effect continues past the geosynchronous orbit. (The slow down / speed up of earth rotation as you move the mass up / down the elevator is the same process as when ice skater stretches / withdraws his limbs to control spin speed. A standard elevator in a skyscraper does the same to the earth rotation... You can read more about conservation of angular momentum and Coriolis force.)

 

Yes, excreting a lateral force by some engine will also change the speed/direction of earth rotation (say, a rocket motor is fired outside atmosphere in a direction lateral to the elevator). Any useful space elevator will have to be engineered to cope with some lateral force (as you noticed, such force is generated even when you only move a mass along the elevator) and will thus not collapse if the force is within limits.

 

I guess that a space elevator will act as almost non-dampened pendulum (at least for 'small' amplitude oscillations). I am not sure if this could be a problem nor what would be the best way to deal with it. I suppose that mass transfer up/down will be scheduled so that it acts against oscillations.