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Would a partial space elevator work?

Background The normal space elevator (that reaches from the Earth's surface to a counterweight beyond geostationary) needs a material that's strength/weight ratio is better than any material we have available. I've another idea, that I assume isn't…
lionfish
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What is the deepest bridge pier in the world?

I have tried searching for this, but I am unable to find a good answer. There is all sorts of stats about the longest bridge in the world, the highest, the longest span, but I think one of the most difficult things is the depth of the pier. From my…
David
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Is there an intuitive explanation for the Kinematic Viscosity unit of mm^2/s?

I've learned that a high viscosity means that the fluid is more thick. Dynamic Viscosity thus represents the resistance to shear forces. Presumably, higher resistances are represented by higher numbers in the relevant ISO spec. Thus I'm puzzled…
loldrup
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is bending moment on roller supports at beams zero?

isn't the bending moment supposed to be zero on roller supports at beams? then why isn't it zero here in this picture at x=2?
niosha afsharikia
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Evaluating performance of heat sink designs without finite element simulation

I have the opportunity to do a few metal 3D prints for just the material cost, and would like to experiment with the performance of heat sink designs (mostly for fun). Since I have no experience designing heat sinks, I would say that the expected…
PlasmaHH
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Beam support weight in motion

Let me state I was once an Engineering student but am now a professional software engineer working on a side project that involves something similar to the question below. I have a box hanging from a beam and the box weighs 200 pounds. The beam is…
nathan89615
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Why is it called "Model predictive control"?

This will sound like a super silly question, but: Why is it called "Model Predictive Control"? I mean : the other types of control also compute the control input based on prediction of what is going to happen based on the "Model", no?
edamondo
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How to let a "screw" leave and reenter a thread

The setup Consider a cylinder inside another cylinder (placed with their symmetry axis horizontal). The inner cylinder is about Ø100 mm in diameter and a centimeter or two in lenght/thickness. On the perimeter there is a thread. This cylinder is…
Steeven
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Rigid bumpers vs shock absorber bumpers

This question got into my mind when I am cleaning my motorcycle. If spring shock-absorbers like the one below absorbs shock from road imperfections, reducing strain in the motorcycle body as your drive, then why does car manufacturers use rigid…
Jem Eripol
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Is a wing that runs the length of an aircraft viable?

I was thinking about fighter aircraft like the Harrier which have thrust vectoring and computer-controlled stabilisation nozzles. Also an anhedral angle on the (small) wings. The aircraft relies so much on the computer stabilisation, and flies like…
jhabbott
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How can I detect black spots?

I am researching about ways to continuously determine black spots (size 50+ micron) in our product stream. This stream consists of imperfect spherical polymer beads (size 3 mm) of different materials (ABS, SEBS, etc.) and colors (opaque and…
nluigi
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What does "28" and "27" mean on my metric thread pitch gauge?

I have a metric thread pitch gauge that came in a tap and die set, it has pitches like $0.75$, $0.8$, $1.25$, etc. which is the distance between each thread. However there are two gauges that say $27$ and $28$ - I thought maybe it means $0.28\text{…
jhabbott
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Whats the purpose of a main metering system in a carburetor?

I'm confused on how to differentiate mixture control from the main metering system, and why we even need one at all. Let's say we had a large resovior, and a needle type mixture control system. The differential pressure would push/pull fuel from the…
MatthewSilus
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LabView or another software for experiments

I used LabView for a lot of my BME undergrad, but the labs focused mainly on things dealing electrical signals. In the real world I'm working mostly on ME projects, but we lack a good deal of experimentation equipment. What are the limitations of…
William B.
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Why do electric cars claim "instant torque?"

I was at a well-known electric car company today and they claimed "instant torque." The quote was something like the following: Driving this car is very different from a gas-powered vehicle. For example, it has instant torque when you press the…
Mowzer
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