Posted by Joel L. Lewis (24.197.38.131) on May 30, 2003 at 08:35:00:
In Reply to: Re: Okay, I can't resist.../ By the way posted by Joel L. Lewis on May 30, 2003 at 07:42:16:
Okay, wait, I think I get it NOW; If, say, the ballance is curved, then the place where the weights are attached at each end would still be under the center of rotation, right? And, if I keep thinking 'lever', it would take energy to get such a beam at an 'angle' in the first place. Right? And if you try taking<90 degree angles from a circle, the whole things ends up with a lower center of gravity, doesn't it?:-(
Okay, back to the drawing board. But two things, though.
First, I was/am NOT trying to get a falling 1lb. ball to lift a 1.1 lb. ball the same distance. I'm trying to get a falling 1lb. ball to lift the SAME WEIGHT the same distance.(Maybe just as bad, because you always get losses due to friction?)
Second, I STILL think that the fact that a weight can be hung from a lever at whatever height you wish without affecting the lever's ballance may prove to be a key piece to the puzzle, and on a reasonable scale, too *Lol!*. ANYTHING that takes height out of the equation is potentially important.:-)
: If it's just a lever with weights on either end, then yes, it will ballance at any position. But if the weights are
hanging from each end, as in the old ballance scales, then no, it will come to rest at level, in theory because the center of gravity is below the center of rotation, and, unless I screwed up royal in testing this, in my experience as well. I'm not saying I deffinitely did NOT screw up testing, but as I understand the facts, those tests are in accord. If I did screw up testing, where is my mistake in reading the theory, and what reason is there for, say, the old ballance scales allways remaining at level when empty? But I'm pretty, uh, fairly confident I didn't screw up this time, or else I'm missing a proverbial elephant in the kitchen...
: : I have no problem giving you a hand. Your idea WILL partially work...if as I said the system was miles high, and one of the weights was near orbit. You will get a movement, but an unusable one.
: : D.