Why can't we harvest the power of gravity?

gonedrinking

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.

tricky D

Dam it.

Wish I'd had that idea.

phasers

Why don't you get digging and find out!

tman

Wouldn't you have to use up a similar amount of energy retrieving the brick...

yeppydeppy

Stay drinking!

Dutch Roll

Build a hole?

I think it would probably get very hot and liquid-ey after about 20 or 30 miles. I also think the effort and energy put into building the hole would far outweigh any potential gain from throwing bricks down it

Nuclear is the way to go methinks. When will the people realise goddammit

Duggy747

Just dig a hole right through the earth to the other side, have 2 guys at either end throwing the one brick back and forth.

RichieC

tman wrote: »

Wouldn't you have to use up a similar amount of energy retrieving the brick...

F*ck thermodynamics!

they're an asshole anyway.

tman

Dutch Roll wrote: »

Build a hole?

Dig yourself a bridge and get over it!

Jesus Wept

tman wrote: »

Wouldn't you have to use up a similar amount of energy retrieving the brick...

It's a brick. Do we need really need to retrieve it?!

Humans eh!

Some skanger would steal the brick. :pac:
Then where would we be?

FatherLen

google perpetual motion.
in summary you cant create energy only convert it.
the energy used to raise the brick would be the same energy gathered from its kinnetic energy.
so no positive energy just a lot of time wasted.



throwin down some knowledge yo.

Dutch Roll

tman wrote: »

Dig yourself a bridge and get over it!

gonedrinking

Duggy747 wrote: »

Just dig a hole right through the earth to the other side, have 2 guys at either end throwing the one brick back and forth.

that could work, but once the brick gets to the centre of the earth would it not stop dead then? or would it keep falling until it came out the other side?

Jesus Wept

tman wrote: »

Wouldn't you have to use up a similar amount of energy retrieving the brick...

FatherLen wrote: »

google perpetual motion.
in summary you cant create energy only convert it.
the energy used to raise the brick would be the same energy gathered from its kinnetic energy.
so no positive energy just a lot of time wasted.



throwin down some knowledge yo.

Len, ya big bollix!
Why do we need to raise the brick?! It's a brick, leave it.
I love my brick.

Humans eh!

FatherLen wrote: »

google perpetual motion.
in summary you cant create energy only convert it.
the energy used to raise the brick would be the same energy gathered from its kinnetic energy.
so no positive energy just a lot of time wasted.



throwin down some knowledge yo.

If you wet the brick, it would dry on the way down and be lighter to pull back up.
eh?

FatherLen

ok let me rephrase. the energy needed to remove the mass of earth needed to create a hole would be larger than the energy gotten from throwing a brick down.

Lumen

Better still, just fire a brick 40 miles into space and catch it on the way back down.

Rockets are free, right?

FatherLen

Humans eh! wrote: »

If you wet the brick, it would dry on the way down and be lighter to pull back up.
eh?

good point but you would have to take into consideration the actual energy of wetting the brick, which i know is very small but the energy you would get from the wet brick over the energy would get from a dry brick is very small.

gonedrinking

FatherLen wrote: »

ok let me rephrase. the energy needed to remove the mass of earth needed to create a hole would be larger than the energy gotten from throwing a brick down.

in the short term yes

Humans eh!

FatherLen wrote: »

ok let me rephrase. the energy needed to remove the mass of earth needed to create a hole would be larger than the energy gotten from throwing a brick down.

Can't we just use the hole that the bank bailout is throwing our money into its massive. I've heard it described as"a bottomless pit" :eek:

tricky D

tman wrote: »

Wouldn't you have to use up a similar amount of energy retrieving the brick...

You do it at night when the rate is cheap and with excess capacity. Incredible you might think, but it's how Turlough Hill works.

Zulu

In a way - we already do: the water mill.

frag420

why dont we harness bunjee jumpers instead and have fun while we are at it...........................

frAg

Standman

its all well and good, but its a waste of a good brick. I'd use a large rock instead. Actually a better idea would be to role a magnetic ball down the side of some big mountain like the alps or some shít, have a battery inside the ball which charges from the rotation of said ball. That's prime gravity harvest

Humans eh!

FatherLen wrote: »

good point but you would have to take into consideration the actual energy of wetting the brick, which i know is very small but the energy you would get from the wet brick over the energy would get from a dry brick is very small.

Just leave them uncovered in the rain = no energy expended.
I have loads of wet bricks in my garden and I didn't use any energy wetting them at all.
And small is better than nothing! no point being greedy.
I call it my wet brick energy ratio solution.

Humans eh!

Standman wrote: »

its all well and good, but its a waste of a good brick. I'd use a large rock instead. Actually a better idea would be to role a magnetic ball down the side of some big mountain like the alps or some shít, have a battery inside the ball which charges from the rotation of said ball. That's prime gravity harvest

I like it!
Why would the ball be magnetic?

jester77

You should join Steorn, they would love that idea!

Earthhorse

We're already harnessing the power of gravity to keep things from floating off into space.

Captain_Generic

The power of gravity has harvested many a laugh on YouTube

PCPhoto

RichieC wrote: »

F*ck thermodynamics!

they're an asshole anyway.

isnt is simple physics ... "every action has an equal and opposite reaction"....Isaac Newton I think !!


(uh oh ...nerd hat off and run to the corner)

knird evol

gonedrinking you've covered the main bases in your idea. I'll just recommend a couple of tweeks.

Instead of a hole use a natural drop in terrain like a mountain.
Instead of a "brick" ?! use water - a river.
Instead of a "rope and pulley" use a hydro electric turbine system.
Set up a state run body to organise all this - you could call them the Electricity Supply Board.
Let's harness gravity

darragh16

Don't we already harvest gravity for other energy sources? Like hydropower

newmug

gonedrinking wrote: »

that could work, but once the brick gets to the centre of the earth would it not stop dead then? or would it keep falling until it came out the other side?

OP I get the impression you're half serious. Are you a student? I hope your not drinking if your only 12! Anyway, if you are (a student), did you not do physics? The law of conservation of energy is your friend!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservation_of_energy

gonedrinking

knird evol wrote: »

gonedrinking you've covered the main bases in your idea. I'll just recommend a couple of tweeks.

Instead of a hole use a natural drop in terrain like a mountain.
Instead of a "brick" ?! use water - a river.
Instead of a "rope and pulley" use a hydro electric turbine system.
Set up a state run body to organise all this - you could call them the Electricity Supply Board.
Let's harness gravity

Well actually, instead of throwing down a brick, I was thinking of throwing down an iron rod, then when it reaches the bottom of the hole, move a magnet over the top of the hole and the rod will fly back up again. I think this will be more efficient than your hydro electric idea.

revz

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xy0UBpagsu8

gonedrinking

newmug wrote: »

OP I get the impression you're half serious. Are you a student? I hope your not drinking if your only 12! Anyway, if you are (a student), did you not do physics? The law of conservation of energy is your friend!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservation_of_energy

Yeah well if Steorn have violated the law of conservation of energy then I think I should be allowed to do so as well.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steorn

11811

Down with gravity I say!

JustAddWater

Because all our scientists are busy trying to harvest the power of a chuck norris roundhouse kick.

We just don't have the staff to work on your project at the minute, sorry

Michael 09

Standman wrote: »

like the alps or some shít,

I love how you're giving a scientific suggestion and include the phrase "or some ****"... Classic

Donal Og O Baelach

Not too long ago some fella sat in a saloon and wondered aloud if he could dig out that black mud that's ruining his land and use it for tar or somethin'.

Everyone laughed at him, until a man from th city, with a shiny suit and a metal horse, bought him out for dollar and a half and built an oilwell.

Then they laughed at him even more.

Gulliver

Pfftt!! You're all a bunch of lightweights with your conservation of energy - ye sound like Duncan Stewart!

The OBVIOUS solution to to put a giant magnet on the moon and wrap the Earth in copper wire!

The_B_Man

this + this = this

Iwannahurl

Humans eh! wrote: »

Can't we just use the hole that the bank bailout is throwing our money into its massive. I've heard it described as"a bottomless pit" :eek:

Better use of resources would be to burn the money here.

niallers1

tman wrote: »

Wouldn't you have to use up a similar amount of energy retrieving the brick...

If you dig the hole all the way to say... Australia , we could get him/her to throw it back down to us when it arrived with him

drdeadlift

If you dropped the brick from a certain height,it lands on some spring loaded device which returns it back to where you dropped it,even if it was returned 80% of the way it might be worth the effort.

Jesus Wept

It's a ****ing brick, why is every one so concerned about getting it back!?

drdeadlift

The-Rigger wrote: »

It's a ****ing brick, why is every one so concerned about getting it back!?

Eventually the hole will be full.

Monty Burnz

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.

So let me get this straight:

1. Dig hole
2. Fill hole
3. ??
4. Energy!

I think you'll find that the energy created by dropping stuff into the hole will be neatly matched (minus friction) by the energy spent on making it.

Captain_Generic

Monty Burnz wrote: »

So let me get this straight:

1. Dig hole
2. Fill hole
3. ??
4. Energy!

?? = Midgets

Sykk

This idea should be accompanied by a trololol meme comic