Power from gravity

[msdaif]

Dear members

 

Say this is like a poll.

 

Has anybody seen a system that generates

electric power exploiting the gravity force?

 

Forget about hydro-power. I mean a different system.

[jraef]

Gravity is a very weak force in terms of localized effect, but very strong when considered in a larger context. That is why hydro power works. Gravity is so weak in it's effect on individual water molecules that they can float up into the sky when heated by solar energy. Multiplied by the surface area of the earth, a lot of potential energy is stored in the atmosphere. As the water molecules collect and condense, gravity is able to have an effect again and the water, along with it's stored potential energy, falls back and hopefully gets utilized.

 

Any other method of trying to use gravity has one very big looming problem with it. You must overcome the effects of local gravity in the first place in order to take advantage of it later. No way around that. So when you add in losses from friction, windage, heat etc., it will always take more energy to lift an object that you can recover from generation as it falls.

 

The same is true for hydro power by the way. It's just that the solar energy involved in "lifting" the water in the first place is essentially free and will happen anyway, so the relative inefficiency is meaningless.

 

Sorry, forgot about your poll. Obviously my answer is "No".

There have been many many machines designed over the years that have supposedly been "gravity generators" and their close cousins, "perpetual motion machines", but every one of them has been found to have some sort of external energy input, some being obvious oversights, others being deliberate fraud attempts (i.e. hidden electromagnets and batteries).

[marke]

Hello msdaif

 

NO, I can not think of an example other than hydro that uses gravity to generate electricity.

 

Best regards,

[Guest]

Thank you for your contribution.