Re: The Levitron; Overunity in a box?

Bill McMurtry ( weber@powerup.com.au )
Sat, 12 Dec 1998 14:56:26 +1000

Hi Justin,

Nice try, but unfortunately it 'aint that simple. You said it yourself,
what stops the levitron rotating is mostly frictional loading (windage). If
you place the system in a vacuum it will rotate for much longer because
nearly all windage loading on the rotating magnet has been eliminated. If
you then load the spinning magnet, by placing coils around the outside of
the vacuum jar in some arrangement, the spinning magnet will be brought to
a halt. 'Perpetual motion', in this sense, is only perpetual as long as the
initial input of energy is wholly conserved. This is most definately not
overunity. The levitron can not generate power of itself (it can certainly
store energy for a period of time). Just as the Hamel spinner can not
generate power of itself - it requires energy input from the operators
muscles to drive the rotating magnet/ball. Try obtaining continual rotation
of the Hamel spinner without an operators input - it will not work. Does
Mr. Hamel explain this to would be researchers?

Regards, Bill.

At 19:17 11/12/98 -0700, you wrote:
>Hello everyone!
>I generally stick to working on recreating David Hamel's machines, but
>certainly am open to other ideas. This idea had occurred to me before,
>and when I showed one of my friends my Hamel spinner, he told me about a
>guy who he knew who had tried it.
>He told me that he knew a guy who put a levitron in a vaccuum.
>He said it has been going for a very long time (I think years) It makes
>perfect sense, think about it. The gyroscopic
>motion of the spinner (the top) keeps it from flipping over, thus it
>levitates
>while spinning at a high RPM, the only thing that stops it is air
>friction, right?
>Well I don't have a levitron, but I thought I would tell everyone about
>this so anyone with a levitron can try this.
>So hear is what I suggest. Get your levitron going really good, then
>quickly put a glass jar (a bell jar) over it, and seal it. Maybe putting
>a rubber ring on a plywood
>base would be the best, then just put the jar on it and suck the air
>out of the jar with a vaccuum pump. If a fairly good vaccuum was created
>the spinner shouldn't stop.
>No air friction+no mechincial friction=Perpetual motion!
>Also the spining top is a magnet, and it's spinning well over 1000 rpm.
>See where I am going? Put pick up coils around the outside of the jar,
>level with the spining top. Now you should be able to draw a small
>amount of current from the thing, a supply that should be infinite.
>I don't have a levitron or vaccuum pump, but I am talking to my physic's
>teacher and he intersted, so maybe we will try it out some day.
>For now anyone intersted give this a shot, if done right I don't see why
>it wouldn't work. All I ask is that you freely share your finding with
>everyone, just as I have freely shared this idea with you. Lets see what
>happens.
>-Justin Szymanek
>
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