What if there was a pole, whose length was the circumference of the Earth?

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diazona said:
[itex]F = ma[/itex], I say - a slight touch (F) would produce a slight acceleration (a). So it would do something, even if the motion would be so small you couldn't measure it.
Well OK. I guess the same thing could be said about the Queen Mary. A slight touch sets it moving imperceptibly?
 
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An other way I thought about looking at this thought experiment is if the pole was infinitely long. Would the pole keep on warping around the Earth? Or will it warp until ends meet (well sorta) and the equal force from each side would cancel any other warping and the rest of the extent will keep on jutting out into space?

Just something I thought would be interesting to add to this already interesting thought experiment.

Edit: Assume that the infinite pole is behaves the same way as the already finite pole.
 
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haloshade said:
An other way I thought about looking at this thought experiment is if the pole was infinitely long. Would the pole keep on warping around the Earth? Or will it warp until ends meet (well sorta) and the equal force from each side would cancel any other warping and the rest of the extent will keep on jutting out into space?

Just something I thought would be interesting to add to this already interesting thought experiment.

Edit: Assume that the infinite pole is behaves the same way as the already finite pole.

Uh, you lost me. An infinitely-long pole would form a helix of infinite width. I don't see where you're going with this.
 
DaveC426913 said:
Uh, you lost me. An infinitely-long pole would form a helix of infinite width. I don't see where you're going with this.

Well I sort of worded it wrong, I meant a helix when I suggested my first option I just didn't word it properly. Sorry about that.