[RightWhale]

is the design any good? 1 meter wide and paper thin is fine at each end. Something doesn't add up. What is the tensile strength of carbon nanotubes compared to ordinary spiderweb?

[Saturnalia]

As stated in the article, they are shooting for 30 times the tensile strength of steel.

[Brett66]

The figures I get for this stuff is that a single perfect nanotube is about 10 to 100 times stronger than steel per unit weight. Amazing stuff, it still costs more than gold to produce, but we have the materials to build such an elevator. The good thing is that a lot of auto manufacturers are drooling over this material, I believe they'll find a way to bring the costs down to make such a project economically feasible.

[Brett66]

A single perfect nanotube is about 10 to 100 times stronger than steel per unit weight. Unfortunately it costs more than it's weight in gold to produce. The auto manufacturers are very interested in this material, I believe they'll find a way to bring those costs down rapidly.

[billybudd]

I'm skeptical on how these nanotubes, even at 100 times stronger than steel, will be able to compensate for the extreme forces at work here.