"Dan Bloomquist" <public21@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote in message
news:7tdAj.5709$7d1.5641@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> daestrom wrote:
>>
>> Whilst I don't agree with any of the OP's junk science, if you arrange
>> the gyro's shaft so that it is perpendicular to the earth's axis, and
the
>> shaft is limited to a track that is also perpencidular to the earth's
>> axis (on the equator it would be vertical, at other latitudes it would
be
>> tilted away from the pole by the degree of latitude), then as the earth
>> rotates each day, the gyro's shaft would make one complete revolution
>> around the track. This revolution of the shaft around the track could
be
>> harnessed to draw some power.
>
> Hi daestrom,
> This is about converting angular momentum to energy. But, angular
momentum
> is conserved. i.e., you can't slow the rotation of the earth from a
closed
> system.
>
> I'm sure the details would bare this out.
>
On the 'big picture' I can see what you mean, but if we put the gyro on
the
equator with the shaft pointing straight up at noon, six hours later the
shaft is horizontal, six more hours and it points straight down, etc...
If we attach some mechanism to capture that 'revolution' of the shaft
around
the track, we transfer some angular momentum (AM) from the earth to the
mechanism (albeit a tiny amount). Momentum is conserved but kinetic
energy
is transferred from one rotating body (the earth) to another (the
mechanism).
Interestingly, when we first erect the gyro, its mass is part of the earth
and it revolves around the earth's axis with you and I. As we spin it up
and it starts to remain oriented in one direction in space (say with the
shaft pointing towards some distant star at the equator), the component of
angular momentum represented by the originally stationary gyro is no
longer
a part of the earth's AM. Since we know AM must be conserved, we deduce
that the act of 'spinning up' the gyro causes the earth's rotation to
increase slightly. This is born out by examining the torque of the spin
motor. Obviously as it accelerates the gyro rotor, it applies a reaction
torque to the planet. This torque tends to ****ft the poles of the planet
but it's moment of momentum turns that into a tiny precession. This
procession creates a tiny moment of angular momentum of the planet along
the
line *from* the distant star (vector quantity in the opposite direction)
of
the gyro's moment of angular momentum as it accelerates.
It's all an interesting 'thought experiment', but the amount of equipment
to
get even the tiniest energy is a non-starter. Of course, if we were on a
rotating space station such that the total moment of inertia was several
orders of magnitude smaller, it could make for some interesting
experiments.
(but no energy generating device).
daestrom
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