Posted by Joel L. Lewis (24.197.38.131) on May 14, 2003 at 08:17:58:
Hi.:-) I'm hoping y'all could help me out here. I've had an idea for gravity-driven power for some time now-the only problem is, it's so simple it seems somebody would SURELY hsve thought it up by now! About as simple as you can get, as a matter of fact-a lever and two equal weights. So let me try to explain, and y'all either tell me what I'm over-looking, or somebody build a design from the idea(should be fairly simple)and get back to me.:-)
Okay, here goes: imagine a simple lever with two equal weights, one on each arm, and one twice the distance from the pivot as the other. like this- ____o_____0________o Got it?
^
Okay, now imagine letting the lever swing untill it is sticking straight up and down. Picture that moment in your mind.
Question:how far does the bottom weight need to rise in order to end at the same level as it started at?
Answer:ONLY HIGH ENOUGH TO TO BE NO FURTHER FROM THE PIVOT THAN THE OTHER WEIGHT. In other words, since the lower weight is twice as far from the pivot as the other weigh, it only needs to rise HALF THE DISTANCE THAT IT FELL to counterballance the other weight. What that means is that only half the energy is needed to raise the weight that it gained through inertia, which also means there's plenty of energy left over for work!:-)
So, does everybody see what I'm getting at? And if you do, is there any physical reason why it won't work?
Waiting with crossed fingers;
Joel