Breaking Cable

I appreciate all of the comments. What I'm really wondering is, why does cable (spectra, fishing cable, etc.) quote a test strength in pounds, rather than foot-pounds? Obviously the same weight bouncing on the cable will break it easier than a static load. And it's the dynamic breaking strength that I'm really interested in.

In our tests, we also noticed that the cable tended to break where it was tied to something else.

[Bcahn836]

I think it all depends on how the cable is tested and rated. Like you said it might hold a certain weight still but not bouncing. In our test we stretched some nylon cable across a jig we made and but weights on it. The cable was rated at 150 lbs but broke at 60 lbs. So as i mentioned before we used some steel cable that we haven't been able to break so far. I think the motors would go before the cable. LOL