If strung a cable 360K KM from Earth to the Moon and then held to the Earth end of it would E rotate around me

Question

I was running short of characters so apologies for the poorly phrased question. Basically, if I strung a steel cable from the moon to the Earth, such that the end of the cable nearest the Earth was 2 feet above ground and I then attached a basket or some similar device to that end of the cable and climbed in the basket, would the Earth rotate around me such that, in 12 hours, I would be halfway around the Earth?

Answer 1

The earth rotates faster than the moon orbits. So if the cable remains straight down, you will start moving westward WRT the ground. The speed you would get up to would depend on your latitude, but since the moon tracks between the tropics, that is where you would end up hanging. That means that you would eventually be flying westward at 1000 to 1200 miles per hour. You would actually be hanging relatively still, but the earth would be rotating under you.

Now, the moon does orbit the earth, so that would move you eastward at only about 35 miles an hour. Subtract that from the 1000 to 1200. You're still traveling westward at faster than the speed of sound, again with respect to the ground and surrounding air.

Also, remember, the moon's orbit is not perfectly circular, so your altitude would change dramatically over several days.

Answer 2

Yes.

Of course, you'd have to deal with wind resistance, mountains, the strength of the cable, and so on; but if you ignore all those little details, the idea is basically sound.