Just wondering, if a piece of string (or something similar) was the same thickness all the way through and had no weak spots (no structral flaws whatsover), and was pulled from both sides with equal pressure would it be unbreakable?
My argument for this is that since it is structurally perfect it could not break in any one place, and because of its structure (cylindrical) it could not break in more than one place.

I'm pretty confident in saying that when you exceed the tensile strength of this string with no weak points it would instantly turn into a fine powder... in essence, breaking everywhere.

The gravity field of the Earth is not uniform, but actually diminishes with altitude. Therefore even if a string were horizontal when pulled, the net force on the top edge of a string is minutely less than the bottom edge due to gravitational gradient of Earth. Also, the mass of the string itself causes a small net force on each partical towards the center of the string. Also, the mass of whatever pulls on the string creates a gravitational gradient field.

Therefore, in order for the string to be equally string, it cannot be made of a uniform material and simple geometry. It would have to be designed to compensate for the tiny differences in force mentioned above. And if one could actually construct such a thing (impossible by today's technology) then I agree with legatissimo on what would happen to it. Otherwise, the point of the string with the largest net gravitational shearing force would break first.

Awhile ago, I heard a similar question from a friend's sister who was in the middle of a 2nd year philsophy course in Australia, in Armidale i think. So im thinking this has no scientificy based answer, or was designed to merly to insprire "possible" scenarios.
Though when it is said that it is free of "structral flaws", would it not also evade the possibility of developing any type of weakness, ie. cracks, fissures, bends or whatever, because it is "perfect", unless there was errors in its creation.
So for any "real" answer to be attained, it would have to be a specific element.

Isn't spider silk the strongest thing known to man? I'm pretty sure when you pull on that from each side it snaps.

Aren't eggs the most perfect thing known to mankind? I'm pretty sure when you pull on them from each side they break!

Or is there some sort of physics rule I'm not aware of here?

"Spider silk is incredibly tough and is stronger by weight than steel. Quantitatively, spider silk is five times stronger than steel of the same diameter. It has been suggested that a Boeing 747 could be stopped in flight by a single pencil-width strand and spider silk is almost as strong as Kevlar, the toughest man-made polymer. It is finer than the human hair (most threads are a few microns in diameter) and is able to keep its strength below -40°C. The toughest silk is the dragline silk from the Golden Orb-Weaving spider (Nephilia clavipes), so-called because it uses silk of a golden hue to make orb webs."

Okay, so it's not the strongest thing known to man, but it's the strongest natural material (my bad).

The point is, if you pulled it it snaps.

yes yes that is what it was called

thanks bundles!

Well, there are 3 inch thick ropes that could hold a semi.

On another topic that should be able to be answered by common sense, I've been told by multiple sources cold water boils faster than hot water...anyone else heard this?

Same concept to which freezes faster?
I saw on television once a show where the host said throwing a cup of hot water on ice would freeze before it hit the ground and shatter, whereas a cup of cold water would hit the ground and splash.

Not too sure how that works, though.

Edit: I forgot to mention this was in Antarctica.

That's what I'm not sure of...

They said that, but didn't explain why.

Posted By: Trance

My bad, check the edit, sorry.

Last winter, after it snowed in Washington, DC, someone wrote on the south lawn of the White House "George Bush is an asshole". It was written in pee. Dubyah was incensed. He ordered the FBI to find out who had done such a thing. The FBI took samples and had them analyzed.

The next day the FBI agent called George and said they had found out who the culprits were.

"Culprits?? There was more than one?", said George.

"Yes, sir. So we have good news and bad news."

"How can that be? You said you knew who the culprits are. That's good news and excellent work. Who was it?"

"Well sir, we analyzed the urine and it's Ted Kennedy's."

"OK," said George, "We'll have him arrested right away. Who else are we going to have arrested?"

The FBI agent explained, "That's the bad news sir. We also analyzed the handwriting and we determined that it's Mrs. Bush's handwriting."

---------

I knew a guy who used to work in Alaska during his Christmas break when he was in college. He said it was BORING up there and when they weren't working they would amuse themselves by heating a big pot of water until it was boiling then they'd open the door and throw the water out onto the ground. It would freeze before it hit the ground.

I recently saw a vid on the internet that showed that happening.