Parn grabs onto the wire and climbs a short distance upwards. His companion, Ghim the dwarf, sees the bottom end of the wire drop slightly as Parn hangs from the wire. The wire is now only h2 = 1.48 above the floor.
Ghim pulls out his HP-15C and punches a few buttons. He looks up and says, "Yo, Parn, take your time. That's going to be a loo-oo-oo-ong climb."
Q: How long is the wire?
Polly wonders what will happen if she places her diamond into the special high-pressure anvil in the geophysics research lab. "It ought to shrink," she figures, "but by how much?" Polly doesn't know that the bulk modulus of diamond is B = 4.4 x 10^(11) N/m^2.
Polly sets the anvil to P = 500,000 atmospheres and presses the "Crush" button. She watches carefully and sees that her diamond DOES shrink ...
Q: What is the new size of her diamond?
You know all about stress and strain. Even a tiny amount of stretching could throw everyone off balance, so you want to minimize the change in the cable's length as it hoists Joe to safety.
Which Material of Engineering Interest would make the best cable for your purpose? Assume that you purchase cables made of spun fibers of any of these materials.