I’m no physicist, but isn’t the Coriolis force a fictitious force? Its only an observation of behavior by the reference of being in a rotating environment?
I understand that as the elevator climbs the ribon, it will continue to need to move at an ever faster rate of speed (keeping up with the rotation of the ribbon) in the direction of the earths rotation, but the drag of its movement I would think be minimal relative to the overall system.
I assume I am just missing something.
The coriolis effect is real. Look at the rotation direction of a hurricane in the northern and southern hemispheres, for example, or the direction of "swirl" as water flows down the drain.
The reason why is, the Earth really is a rotating environment; and the acceleration is "fictitious" only from the perspective of an inertial reference frame.
As for "small forces" -- in space, small forces have significant effects because there's no friction to moderate those effects. Thus, solar radiation pressure will be a big deal.
Also, you need to realize that the reason a space elevator would work at all, is because the center of mass of the system is in a geostationary orbit. If you attach something massive to the tether and start cranking it up, the center of mass will be displaced downward, and thus the tether would want to move forward. The response is to crank something upward to keep the center of mass approximately the same; or to fire thrusters to adjust.
Sure, but it is the sideways force upon you when you move from the equator to the pole and is a major force in atmospheric modeling.
Im no physicist either but there conservation of angular momentum. This means that as the elevator moves up, its angular momentum will make it slow down relative to the rotation of the earth. Its what drives the Coriolis effect and what makes an ice skater spin faster when they pull in their arms and legs.