High Tower model

Above a radius of 150,000 km, the base of the tower is in tension.

What is notable about this tower is that it oscillates, rather than rotating in a perfect circle. This is because the tower was initialized with satellite bodies at 10,000 km intervals - the natural free length of the cables used -, and these cables stretch as the tower turns, and then recoil back, so that the whole tower oscillates radially.

Each simulation is started/stopped by clicking on the Start/Stop button. With Motion trails unticked, bodies and cables are shown at their present location. In Show trails ticked, bodies and cable motion leaves a trail. The Hold option fixes the radial distance of the lowest body in the tower. The Feed option allows bodies to be fed into the base of a rising tower. The Release option breaks the cable connecting the lowest tower body to the planet. The Shatter option breaks all cables in a tower.

Applets can be restarted by returning to this page, and then reselecting them. Where the models have randomized initialization (as in the Gravitational model and the Elastic model), a new simulation starts each time the applet begins.