Lerts was cool, but this is just stupid. :sadbanana

Quote from Gills4life :

Could it not be the red though? If you did it on a smaller scale, like one guy at one end of the field and another guy at the other end of a field, each pulling each end of the string tight, it won't touch the floor. Then if they walked (if it was humanly possibly) around the world in opposite directions and met up on the other side while keeping the string tight, why would it be touching the floor? Would the curvature of the Earth make the string drag along the floor? It's a good question. I thought it was obviously blue at first but after thinking about it some more, I am not so sure.

Maybe just stop thinking about it... i'm not sure if it really helped so far. LOL!

Quote from Gills4life :

Would the curvature of the Earth make the string drag along the floor?

Yes. Isn't that fairly obvious? What force could possibly keep the string in the air when both gravity and the pulling force would pull it towards the earth? (Do it small scale on a football like previously suggested, ignoring gravity for a second.)

Oi Android. Wait up!

Quote from wien :

Yes. Isn't that fairly obvious? What force could possibly keep the string in the air when both gravity and the pulling force would pull it towards the earth? (Do it small scale on a football like previously suggested, ignoring gravity for a second.)

But if you pulled a string tight from both ends of a football pitch it wouldn't drag along the floor because it is rigid and won't dip in the middle. So I am just assuming it will be the blue string because the situation would change if you were to pull it from a much greater distance?

I get that the gravity would pull it towards the centre of the earth, but when a string is pulled tightly at a certain height from both ends, it stays at that height. I did vote for the blue string, I am just thinking of it in different ways. I know! Criminal isn't it! :O

Quote from Gills4life :

But if you pulled a string tight from both ends of a football pitch it wouldn't drag along the floor because it is rigid and won't dip in the middle. So I am just assuming it will be the blue string because the situation would change if you were to pull it from a much greater distance?

The earth is a sphere. If you pull a string across it it's like pulling a string across the surface of a ball, not a football pitch. As you increase the distance the two pulling points disappear behind each other's horizons and you start wrapping the string around the earth instead of suspending it between the points.

imagine you have a very large piece of rope floating through space and you dropped the earth onto it the rope will wrap around the earth for purely geometrical reasons

Quote from wien :

The earth is a sphere. If you pull a string across it it's like pulling a string across the surface of a ball, not a football pitch. As you increase the distance the two pulling points disappear behind each other's horizons and you start wrapping the string around the earth instead of suspending it between the points.

That's what I first thought which was obvious, then my mind started to fill with all kinds of gobbledeegook It's been a long day.

I now understand! See my incredible diagram for my brainwave. Sorry for destroying everyone's faith in humanity.

(LFSW is the Earth, and the two forum members are pulling the blue string tightly at two parts of the earth)

Why is this even a debate? It's completely and utterly retarded that some people might even consider anything other than the blue string.

Alright, Jesus Christ, not all of us are internet superstars like you guys. **** me...

Have this little victory and move on.

Quote from Mp3 Astra :

Alright, Jesus Christ, not all of us are internet superstars like you guys. **** me...

Have this little victory and move on.

My post wasn't directed at you in particular, since you understand the obvious concept (albeit after having it explained).

I'm going to join the Flat Earth Society to make sure I never fall into this trap again.

Quote from Mp3 Astra :

I think this is the key point, which is why it shouldn't touch the ground. I really want someone to do this now...

if you pull it tight, it will become a straightline initially because of the tension, but eventually it will touch the ground because of the curvature of the earth.

Ridiculous thread is...



Yep you guessed it. Ridiculous.

I like this thread. Levitating Red String for president!

Quote from titanLS :

I like this thread. Levitating Red String for president!

NOOOOOOooooooo... titanLS manages to turn the Magical, Whimsical, Levitating Red String thread into a fiery inferno of politics and insults, where heads will be ripped off over rhetoric and the validity of statistics for hours to come. And all this in one fell swoop.:weeping:

Quote from wien :

Not until the string is wrapping more than 180 degrees of the earth circumference, and not unless you make the earth out of solid teflon.

I want to live on that easy-to-clean earth.

wait... let me go get 40075 km of string and let's find out

I say it would pull tight against the earth
1: because the earth is (almost) round
2: gravity acts towards the center of the earth, no matter what your position is.

I think

Ok the only reason I brought up the whole gravity thing is because I didn't look at the diagram right in the first place; I assumed the string would be on the ground to begin with and thought some joker was trying to say that pulling it tight would make it float... That's not the premise of the question however as Wien pointed out. As Shot and Maggot already said, gravity indeed has nothing to do with what's really being asked. And the fact that anyone has to think about this is bothersome....

Quote from JJ72 :

if you pull it tight, it will become a straightline initially because of the tension, but eventually it will touch the ground because of the curvature of the earth.

That's exactly what I thought, I think it should be obvious to anyone that this would happen.

Maybe we should make this thread sticky with so no other people make the error of thinking the red one is correct again?

It would appear to float when observed by the two people holding it tight, assuming they are holding the ends in their hands and are standing up, when in fact it would be a tangential line from their hand to wherever it contacts the earth, but the point would be so far away it would appear to float from that particular position.

Oh damn, now I've just got the main sense of the problem. Now I think it's the red line, because if you have a string, pull it on both sides, it will float.

It doesn't matter if the string isn't tight, gravity will MAKE it touch the earth. What's the big deal?

Quote from Flame CZE :

Oh damn, now I've just got the main sense of the problem. Now I think it's the red line, because if you have a string, pull it on both sides, it will float.

If you pull a string taught it will automatically go into the shortest possible length.

That is why, if you pull it between two people, it is a dead straight line.

If you wrap it round an object (ignoring gravity for a second), then it will take the shortest path - that will be touching the object.

Imagine it on a smaller scale with a football - would you expect string to float?

This thread concerns me greatly.

Quote from BlueFlame :

It doesn't matter if the string isn't tight, gravity will MAKE it touch the earth. What's the big deal?

Gravity is not the reason it will touch the earth. You could pull a string taught around the space station, it still would not float.

Quote from Jakg :

This thread concerns me greatly.

I agree, it's bewildering, what crack must people be smoking..