Why can't we harvest the power of gravity?

Capt'n Midnight

dj jarvis wrote: »

If you dug a hole / tunnel from Ireland 2 Australia and dropped a brick into it gravity would speed up the brick the closer to the center it got ,
but once it passed the center of the earth and headed for Australia it would start to slow down the closer to the surface it got .
eventually it would pop out the other side the VERY SAME SPEED it entered the tunnel at . because gravity would be the same at the entrance as the exit .

they worked it out that it would take 42 minutes for the brick to complete this journey using only gravity to move it

SOME ONE GOT PAID TO FIGURE THIS **** OUT

Terminal velocity of a person falling head first is about 196mph

The radius of the earth is 4,000mph so it would take nearly a day to fall to the centre of the earth. But gravity will diminish as you get closer to the centre, and air will get denser. Both of these will slow down your velocity so it would take even longer.

Actually air would liquify under pressure before you got to the centre but you'd probably be crushed by the pressure long before. ( of course that all ignores the heat etc. )

Gulliver

Capt'n Midnight wrote: »

Terminal velocity of a person falling head first is about 196mph

The radius of the earth is 4,000mph :eek: so it would take nearly a day to fall to the centre of the earth. But gravity will diminish as you get closer to the centre, and air will get denser. Both of these will slow down your velocity so it would take even longer.

Actually air would liquify under pressure before you got to the centre but you'd probably be crushed by the pressure long before. ( of course that all ignores the heat etc. )

That's a fast radius, boss. Anyway, the dinosaurs at the centre of the earth would eat you long before the pressure or heat killed you. ಠ_ರೃ

charlemont

gonedrinking wrote: »

We could build a massive hole in the ground, like 30 or 40 miles deep. Then have a bloke at the top of the hole drop a brick down into it. Now the brick will be attached to a rope which will be part of a type of pulley system, then somewhere along the pulley system will be a box which converts the movement and friction of the rope into energy. Would this work? No one steal my idea cause I haven't copyrighted it yet.

It doesnt have to be done as you describe, It can de done a bit easier sure its what keeps UFO's going..Im sure someone somewhere knows how to do it and I reckon the oil companies pay him to shut up..

lolie

dj jarvis wrote: »

If you dug a hole / tunnel from Ireland 2 Australia and dropped a brick into it gravity would speed up the brick the closer to the center it got ,
but once it passed the center of the earth and headed for Australia it would start to slow down the closer to the surface it got .
eventually it would pop out the other side the VERY SAME SPEED it entered the tunnel at . because gravity would be the same at the entrance as the exit .

they worked it out that it would take 42 minutes for the brick to complete this journey using only gravity to move it

SOME ONE GOT PAID TO FIGURE THIS **** OUT

Friend of mine had a bolt in the concrete floor in his shed years ago, for years he had his young brother convinced the bolt was holding up a house in Australia. Needless to say he felt fairly stupid when he found out years later.

Rabble Rabble

we should utilise the power of gravity with waterfalls. yeah.


rushes off to patent office.

MarkR

What type of brick?

shuyin1

Rabble Rabble wrote: »

we should utilise the power of gravity with waterfalls. yeah.


rushes off to patent office.

A dude thought of that ~100 years ago, something Tesla

sheesh

so to paraphrase the op, dig a hole and fill it with bricks.

nice one;)

TimeToShine

gonedrinking wrote: »

We could build a massive hole in the ground, like 30 or 40 miles deep. Then have a bloke at the top of the hole drop a brick down into it. Now the brick will be attached to a rope which will be part of a type of pulley system, then somewhere along the pulley system will be a box which converts the movement and friction of the rope into energy.would this work? No one steal my idea cause I haven't copyrighted it yet.

Yes.

hal9000

MarkR wrote: »

What type of brick?

the anti gravity type

Aodan83

hal9000 wrote: »

the anti gravity type

If I had an anti gravity brick, I wouldn't be worried about energy. I'd be all like "Hey, wanna see my anti-gravity brick?, It'll cost ya 5 Euro." Then I'd have the money to pay for all the energy I want. I love my anti-gravity brick

jackiebaron

cnocbui wrote: »

Nope, the pendulum just regulates the time, the power is provided by winding up a spring.



What actually would happen is some poor Aussie would peer over the edge of this interesting new hole, be hit in the face by a fast moving brick, his relatives would then sue the person who dropped the brick for millions, wiping out all possible profits from the sale of the energy.

Of course if the brick just missed the guys head and landed on the ground nearby, being an Aussie, he would scratch his head for all of about 5 seconds until he saw the next brick land, then he would quickly peg the area with four stakes, rush off down the mining registrars office and file a claim, float a company on the stock market, and then make a few million selling bricks to China, who would then sell the bricks to to some mug in Ireland who keeps dropping them down a hole.

OK. Steam engine then. Heated water (steam) forces a piston upwards. Gravity drops it back down only for the steam to fires it back up...repeat, repeat.

BickNarry

If there was ever a thread likely to be started by the Rubberbandits, this is it.

Jake Rugby Walrus666

I think we should drop an auld heating element down to the Earths Core.

Why can't we harvest the power of HOTNESS

ScumLord

Aodan83 wrote: »

If I had an anti gravity brick, I wouldn't be worried about energy. I'd be all like "Hey, wanna see my anti-gravity brick?, It'll cost ya 5 Euro." Then I'd have the money to pay for all the energy I want. I love my anti-gravity brick

If you get an anti-gravity brick make sure to tie it down as they just float off into space.

upandcumming

jackiebaron wrote: »

OK. Steam engine then. Heated water (steam) forces a piston upwards. Gravity drops it back down only for the steam to fires it back up...repeat, repeat.

Did you forget to post this too?

cnocbui

If you think bricks are fun, you should read up on magnetic monopoles.

bnt

jackiebaron wrote: »

OK. Steam engine then. Heated water (steam) forces a piston upwards. Gravity drops it back down only for the steam to fires it back up...repeat, repeat.

Well, how do you heat the steam? Burning petrol? If you're looking to get it from underground, there are more efficient ways of using geothermal steam, already in use in e.g. Iceland.

There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch (TANSTAAFL), people ... :cool:

hal9000

gonedrinking wrote: »

Why can't we harvest the power of gravity?

harvest gravity?
do you go plant a bunch of gravitons and wait a few months then get a great haul of good-ol natural organic gravity???

Capt'n Midnight

you setup a space elevator twice as long as you really need, a brick at the top will have enough velocity to fly off into space (honestly)

except you have it tied to another brick down on the ground, it will get pulled in to space too, so you have lots of bricks being spun off into space and you use cord to turn a generator