Building a (solid) ring around the earth

Could you build a ring around the earth, so that it would just sit in the sky? I'm not talking a geostationary orbit of rubble like the rings around Saturn, but a solid structure just high enough to clear Mt Everest. As gravity would be acting equally on it from all sides it would just hover there wouldn't it?

Structurally it would be uniformly under compression as gravity would be trying to squeeze it inward, so a substance such as concrete would be perfect, and cheap too. Kind of like a giant masonry arch that keeps going right over the horizon.

Although the main reason for building such a structure would obviously be the lulz, I can think of one use: if you were to rotate it it could be used as a transporter - like a giant version of those moving footpaths they have at airports - 'travelators' I believe they're called. You could even have different rings at different heights going in other directions.

So would this be possible, physically, and economically? Should I start a Kickstarter campaign?

posted almost 10 years ago

stib‭

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