Force is static. Work is not static. Work=energy=force*distance. My concern is conservation of energy. How do you get more work/energy out of the back of the key than you put in at the front? (Hint: you don't.) Where does the extra work come from? I understand the leverage issues/argument. But leverage isn't energy. -Mark > At 12:09 PM -0400 6/21/03, Mark Davidson wrote: > >This was my initial reaction. You do less work at the front > >of the key but the same amount at the back of the key. How's that possible? > >Yet he's got the experimental data to show it works. > > Bill Ballard wrote: > > The data you refer to is static, and is merely a reading of how the > gravitational pull on each side of the key is balanced across the > fulcrum. > > >I think the answer lies in that fact that the magnets, like a spring, have > >stored energy that is released as the wippen and key move apart > >which does some of the > >work. This energy is stored again as the parts move back together. > >It wouldn't > >work if the distance between the parts were not changing. > > I don't know how it works for magnets, but for springs, barely 8% of > of stored force is relieved at the top of the wippen's swing. The way > to release 100% of the stored energy is to unhook the spring. With > magnets, the force doesn't exist (excuse me, it doesn't become strong > enough to be noticeable) until you bring like poles of two magnetic > fields close enough. That doesn't sound like a force-storing system > to me. Stored energy is at work however with inertia and gravity, as > well as deformation of springs. >
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