| daestrom 2005-10-11, 6:21 pm |
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"Solar Flare" <sflare@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:ecKdnexuBuunKtfeRVn-qw@golden.net...
> When you extract power from the gyro it stops spinning. There is no more
> power
> than the power applied to make it spin.
>
> The "force" it exibits is at right angles to the applied force. Not useful
> either.
>
> This is not energy but force. Sound familar again?
>
Not even wrong. When you extract power from a flywheel, yes it slows down
and you can't get more out than you put in.
But extracting power from a gyroscope mounted on the equator (or for that
matter any latitude) is not the same thing. You don't deliberately slow
down the flywheel, you try to get the motion of the earth to turn it on its
axis.
Of course if you perfectly restrain it, then no motion and no energy out.
Or if you leave it completely unrestrained, movement and no force so still
no energy out. Find a mid-point and you get *some* movement, with *some*
force. The energy extracted comes from the motion of the planet it's
mounted on (i.e. the Earth slows it's rotation an infitesimal amount).
While partially restraining the movement of the gimbals, considerable
lateral force will be exerted on the spinning shaft's bearings. This would
probably be one of the limiting aspects of the design.
Yes, gyro's 'precess' by trying to move at 90 degrees from the direction the
tilting force is applied. But so what? Arrange the building foundation so
the gimbals are restrained to vertical in the east-west direction. As the
earth rotates, the building will apply a force to the axis trying to 'tilt'
the gyro. And as you said, it will try to move the axis in the north-south
line. Simply arrange your energy extraction system to resist (but allow to
some extent) movement in the north-south line and you have movement against
a resistance.
Practical? Probably not.
Possible? Definitely.
daestrom
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