[geoschmo]

Originally posted by TerranC:
Actually, to rephrase my question:

What happens to the people/goods that are on the ribbon if the Space end of the ribbon breaks Geosynchronus orbit by whatever unknown reason even for a second?

And also, they wouldn't make a ribbon out of fabric; will there be some kind of massive whiplash?

The elevator itself would most likely have some sort of parachute recovery system. That's not a big deal wieght wise or technologically. We can do that now. A much bigge concern is what would happen to the ribbon itsself, or more precisley anyone it falls on. No matter how light it is, 300 miles of it is going to be heavy.