Posted by Scott Ellis (216.87.95.64) on March 04, 2002 at 21:22:35:
In Reply to: Here's an idea posted by L. P. Marken on February 27, 2002 at 15:56:04:
Thanks for your post, Lars. I have to ask you, if you're so firmly against the possibility of PM, why do you post to this discussion? I do not mean to discourage you in any way. On the contrary, a diversity of opinion is a great thing!
As far as your idea here, to me it is very similar to, though not as refined as, the Finsrud device (which DOES work).
It is based on coupled chaos pendulums. There is always a chance that the machine will stand still in the next moment, but that chance is very slim compared to the chance that it will keep going.
A chaos pendulum is simply a metal or magnetic pendulum, and a little distance below the pendulum is a random array of opposing magnets. When the pendulum is swung over the magnets it takes a random path. The pendulum takes an erratic path eventually becoming static in a position that is not vertical (since an opposing magnet is placed directly below the vertical). This represents a potential energy in the pendulum.
Reidar timed the length of swing of a normal pendulum, then a chaos pendulum, the times were similar but Reidar noted that the chaos pendulum still kept some potential energy. In order to release this energy he hung further chaos pendulums near the first, he attached the pendulums together using a length of line. Now, when a pendulum came near rest it would occasionally be pulled by another pendulum and release that potential and start to move again. When timed this system of chaos pendulums was found to take longer than just one chaos pendulum before it came to rest.
Many different combinations of pendulum numbers and types were tried. A triangular array was finally achieved after many tried and failed attempts to get the motion to continue almost indefinitely.
The chaos pendulums provide just enough energy to overcome the friction of a ball rolling on a steel track (by slightly distorting the track just ahead of the ball). Last I heard, the machine could run for months at a time, with just a small initial velocity imparted to the ball.
Best,
Scott
: Inside the Bessler wheel, put a number of rods in a circular fashion, each rod parallell to the axis and in equal distance from it. (Got it?) From each of the rods, suspend different masses using springs, rubber bands, strings etc in a random fashion. Only make sure that the total mass attached to each rod is equal. Thus giving a balanced wheel in the steady state situation.
: Now fit the wheel with a mechanism that only allows it to rotate in one direction. Shake everything up by setting the wheel in motion. The random movement of all the stuff inside will create unbalance, sometimes in one direction, sometimes in the other. Each time there is unbalance in the direction the wheel is allowed to rotate, it will rotate.
: Then we can only hope that the motion of the wheel is enough to keep all the masses swinging and that equilibrium is never reached by coincidence.
: I don't actually believe this will work, but it sounds good, doesn't it? :-)
: LPM