Energy in V energy out.

[rtbcomp]

I was wondering if a machine could be built such that a magnet attracted a soft iron armature which was connected to a mu-metal screen in such a way that as the armature moved the screen was interspersed between the magnet and armature.

The armature would then retract under spring pressure and the cycle repeated.

 

[rockweasel]

I was wondering if a machine could be built such that a magnet attracted a soft iron armature which was connected to a mu-metal screen in such a way that as the armature moved the screen was interspersed between the magnet and armature.

The armature would then retract under spring pressure and the cycle repeated.

I think the device would reach a state of equilibrium where the attraction between the magnet & armature equalled the pull of the spring.

 

[rtbcomp]

Depends on the relative strengths of the spring & magnet. Instead of a flap you could have a rotating drum made from mu-metal with a window cut in it. This would do away with the spring.

 

[rockweasel]

Back in the black and white days of my university there was a video game on the wall to demonstrate something along the lines of this thread.

The screen depicted two tanks side by side with a small pipe connecting the two and a "gate" to open and close the pipe. One side of the tank was filled with gas (balls bouncing around at random), the other side was empty. A pixie (may have been a genie) controlled the gate. The idea was that the pixie opened the gate to let the gas molecules flow from the high pressure side to the low pressure side until the contents of one tank had been transferred to the other completely. The effort involved in opening and shutting the gate would be less than the energy generated by the flow of gas through the gate. Players of the game controlled the pixie. As you can imagine, when the contents of both tanks were about equal the number of balls hitting the gate from both sides was the same and the game ground to a halt. Unwinnable.

 

[lshigham]

Depends on the relative strengths of the spring & magnet. Instead of a flap you could have a rotating drum made from mu-metal with a window cut in it. This would do away with the spring.

The energy in a magnet isn't "free", it's expended when they are magnetised

 

[Sean]

magnets and electricity= heat put your hand on a motor or an alternator thats been running - also the flexing spring produces heat

 

[rtbcomp]

Most of the heat in an electric motor is produced by the current in the windings and eddy currents in the laminations.

If there was no resistance you would only get heat produced by friction in the bearings.

 

[Spark plug]

Oh ye seekers after perpetual motion, how many vain chimeras have you pursued? Go and take your place with the alchemists.

— Leonardo da Vinci, 1494

 

[MattF]

If there was no resistance you would only get heat produced by friction in the bearings.

There's always some resistance, whether it be electrical or mechanical.

 

[Sid]

Can the same kind of energy input provide more of the same kind of energy at the output side, if there is “something” in-between” , or what is the nearest thing we have to that situation.?

This thread seem to be discussing perpetual motion, which as I read it is not what the question is asking, although it may be what you mean.

If the 'something in between' is a provider of energy, then yes it's possible.

A small electrical input into a transistor can become a large output. This is an amplifier.

The levers of a digger can cause a machine to dig out trenches. Here a force becomes a bigger force.

Light travelling through a laser causes more light to be emitted. This is the origin of the word, Light Amplification (due to the) Stimulated Emission of Radiation. Here potential energy is triggered to convert into light energy, by other photons of light.

However as in all cases, you are not creating energy. Energy is neither created nor destroyed, it just changes form.

 

[ajlelectronics]

A transistor uses a small current on the base to control a higher current from the collector to the emitter. So it doesn't create something out of nothing, it merely modulates the high power circuit.

 

[BrokenBiker]

in essence a transistor is just a relay.

 

[AndyStobbs]

in essence a transistor is just a relay.

Not really

 

[the snooper]

This thread seem to be discussing perpetual motion, which as I read it is not what the question is asking, although it may be what you mean.

If the 'something in between' is a provider of energy, then yes it's possible.

A small electrical input into a transistor can become a large output. This is an amplifier.

The levers of a digger can cause a machine to dig out trenches. Here a force becomes a bigger force.

Light travelling through a laser causes more light to be emitted. This is the origin of the word, Light Amplification (due to the) Stimulated Emission of Radiation. Here potential energy is triggered to convert into light energy, by other photons of light.

However as in all cases, you are not creating energy. Energy is neither created nor destroyed, it just changes form.

the hydraulic pressure required to operate the excavator to dig will be far greater then required to lift the actual load so in this example more power goes in then then comes out due to the placement or the rams

 

[BrokenBiker]

Not really

in as much as when used as a switch it functions similar to a relay, using one power source at the base to allow power to pass the collector and emitter, like a coil being energised to operate another circuit. That's how my electronics tutor explained it to us but we were removed from electronics as our boss thought it was a waste of time

 

[ajlelectronics]

It is only a switch when biased to be so. Otherwise a linear change in base current will produce the same chang in the output current. A semiconductor switch is called an SCR or thyristor. Two SCRs back to back, form a Triac useful in AC control.

 

[BrokenBiker]

It is only a switch when biased to be so. Otherwise a linear change in base current will produce the same chang in the output current. A semiconductor switch is called an SCR or thyristor. Two SCRs back to back, form a Triac useful in AC control.

we only got a few days in, covered diodes, what i said above about transistors and capacitors. Then our boss decided he wanted us to do milling and turning instead of electronics, even though we were supposed to be maintenance leccies. We were removed from the electronics part of the btec too and hnc only consisted really of maths and electrical networks.

hopefully i will pick it all up quite quickly during my degree

 

[Robotstar5]

We were removed from the electronics part of the btec too and hnc only consisted really of maths and electrical networks.

hopefully i will pick it all up quite quickly during my degree

The joys of calculus and differentiation, I always wondered how working out the area under a curve would help me wire up a motor!

 

[ajlelectronics]

Well you wire motors with chords don't you? ;-)

 

[AndyStobbs]

it was integration I could never see a use for.