No, you can't do that. That would be like removing the bias from a transistor in operation. Removing it causes the transistor to fall outside its operating range and cease to function, but it is not the bias that constitutes the signal being acted on, or even the bias that is causing the transistor to switch. The bias voltage just moves the junction to a range where a change in the signal can have an effect.All you guys need to do is take a bike with properly tensioned spokes. Have someone sit on it, and start snipping spokes from either the top or bottom. You'll find out soon enough. Destructive testing is the funnest kind.
So, another thought experiment: Is a steel-reinforced concrete beam able to carry a bending load on the underside of the beam's center that sees tension? Yes. Is it the concrete or the steel doing the carrying? Most people think the steel carries the load and the concrete is along for the ride. But if it was just the steel carrying the load, the concrete would crack and (eventually) fail. Concrete has negligible tensile strength and will rupture if stretched as much as the steel within it, which has high tensile strength. What keeps that from happening is that the steel is loaded in tension and then the concrete is poured around it. The only reason the concrete can then endure a tensile load (I did NOT say stress) without cracking is that the steel provides sufficient biasing compression to keep the concrete from ever seeing tensile stress. It's the same principle as the spoke, but in reverse. The tension of the steel biases the concrete to only see compressive stress, and giving that up carries a tensile load without cracking.
Rick "the article linked by somebodyelse explains this well with finite-elements analysis" Denney
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