Return to Answer

Plugging in values for human bone (50 MPa) : 0.0193 Newton’s per meter.

If the line is 193 micrometers ($10^{-6}$) in radius, the max tension a our sci-fi ten times tungsten line can handle is 585 Newtons.

Plugging in values for human bone (50 MPa) : 0.0193 joules of energy are required per meter of cut.

If the line is 193 micrometers ($10^{-6}$) in radius, the max tension our “sci-fi ten times tungsten” line can handle is 585 Newtons.

The flyweight might need to be recalculated, but this post is getting long. At 4,800 meters per second, the faux monofilament line has 0.000299 joules behind it. Each cutting hit with the line will go away 0.015 meters, or 1.5 centimeters of bone-equivalent material.

Like a weed eater, as long as the line is not broken, it can loop back around again (4,800 times per second) biting away more material. Expressed as a cutting rate (provided a motor could keep up) you could cut about 74 meters per second.

The flyweight might need to be recalculated, but this post is getting long. At 4,800 meters per second, the faux monofilament line has 0.000299 joules behind it. Each cutting hit with the line will cut away 0.015 meters, or 1.5 centimeters of bone-equivalent material.

Like a weed eater, as long as the line is not broken, it can loop back around again (4,800 times per second) biting away more material. Expressed as a cutting rate (provided a motor could keep up) you could cut about 74 meters per second.

Solidness—

The last category is solidness. This is expressed by the formula ${{rpm} \times {{l_1 + l_2} \over {v}}}$. L1 is the length of the incoming object. L2 is the length of the line (negligible unless the incoming object is also very small). And v is the velocity of the incoming object. What you end up with is a number that, if greater than 1, indicates the number of times the line will strike the incoming object (the integer part). If the number is less than one, the value represents the percentage chance that the line will hit the incoming object at all.

The top speed of the whole assembly, then, can be up to 4,800 meters per second.

The flyweight might need to be recalculated, but this post is getting long. At 4,800 meters per second, the faux monofilament line has 0.000299 joules behind it. Each cutting hit with the line will go away 0.015 meters, or 1.5 centimeters of bone-equivalent material.

Like a weed eater, as long as the line is not broken, it can loop back around again (4,800 times per second) biting away more material. Expressed as a cutting rate (provided a motor could keep up) you could cut about 74 meters per second.