How to Build a Tethered Ring

A tethered ring is lifted up and held up by its tethers, which can seem a bit counterintuitive. We have some visuals to explain this where we'll be putting up on the screen but for our audio-only listeners over on SoundCloud, Spotify, iTunes, Audible, Amazon Music, and others,. This might be a bit tricky to visualize. A big hoop around Earth would just land on the ground wherever as everywhere is down. Indeed, even a ring made of pure diamond would be as flexible as a rubber band at this scale. Much like water and hose, this will make the object rigid even though it's thousands of miles long.

Play episode from 11:17

Transcript

The AI-powered Podcast Player

Save insights by tapping your headphones, chat with episodes, discover the best highlights - and more!

Get the app