Are those big propellers on "wind driven generators" really motors to speed up the rotation of the Earth?
463503
Yes that's true.  Keep it hush-hush and you won't get hurt.  ....this message brought to you by the N.S.A. and the National Council of Churches.
165358
It would have to have some form of energy to get it moving, just like any electric motor.  From there a flywheel could keep it going but you would have to continue to add power to keep it from spinning down.  So what you end up with is a regular electric motor.
455080
No, I'm Not. but, here's an interesting theory as to their Guidance System to Find Earth; The Pyramids of the Eastern [Egypt] Hemisphere, and of the Western [Mexico , Central America] Hemisphere are Aligned in Such a Way, and Constructed of the Proper Materials that the Energy of the Earth's Magnetic Poles are Naturally Focused Upon the Pyramid Structures. The Claim is that the Earth Resonates at an Inaudible Frequency of 8 Hz. That, combined with the Polar Magnetic Energy Focused onto all of the Earth's Pyramids Generates a Beam of Energy which can be Detected Far Out into Space, well Beyond Our Solar System. NASA Supposedly has Proof of this from Voyager I and II , which are both beyond our Solar System. Supposedly there is also Proof that if the Pyramids had been only a Few Miles Apart from where they were Built, and not Made of the Same Materials of which they were Built, they would not be able to Emit an Energy Field that can be Detected, Perhaps Light Years beyond Earth! If that's all a Coincidence, along with the Prehistoric Drawings of Space Vehicles found on the Walls of Caves in France, then so be it. Also, Read the Bible, "Ezekiel saw the Wheel, way in the middle of the Air"
71764
There is a perpetual motion machine in the Smithsonian Institute. I creates more energy than it uses. The key is to reduce friction to a level that keeps the spinning weights spinning while producing more energy. the one in the Smithsonian Institute does this but not on a scale that would be of use in todays world of high energy consumption.
270859
Speed is relative, Earth itself is actualy traveling quite fast away from the center of the universe, but relative to Earth, beyond any doubt, LPA's (Linear Particle Accelerators) (not realy "made", more like harnessed to make other particles move very fast), You could possibly also argue a Hydrogen Fusion Bomb, (or maybe it's a Uranium Fission bomb?, I can't remember)... anyways, the nuclear reaction created "travels" very quickly for the first few fractions of a second. As for things that carry people, the space shuttle, and as for Land speed, I do belive the Thrust SSC (The brittish) was about 750-760mph (thats cookin' on land alright) and was set in the late nineties... the first time somone had ever exceeded supersonic speeds on land, however... there are rocket sleds (looks like a cart on rails) used by the US military for testing that can far exceed supersonic speeds, but are unmanned.\n\nJust read Kes's answer... very trippy, but very true.
338620
Excellent question.\n\nBut Bush and Cheney have got it all wrong again - the turbines are facing the wrong way and the earth is slowing down.\n\nWould write more but I'm off the invent a 25 hour clock.
101238
well, the basic idea is that they're kind of like a big propeller inside a tube.  one side of the tube is connected to a sealed tank with some water in it, and the other side of the tube is vented out to the air.  when you light a fire under the water, the water boils and releases steam.  this fire can be powered by coal, oil, or even not be fire at all - in a nuclear reactor, the nuclear reaction is used to heat water that in turn boils and makes steam.\n\nif you've ever done any cooking on the stove, you know that if the container is sealed, the steam can build up to a VERY high pressure.  \n\nif you then open a valve and send the steam down the tube toward the turbine, the high pressure on one side will cause the turbine blades to spin.  just like a propellor working in reverse, essentially.  obviously i'm glossing over some of the details - there are a lot of subtle thermodynamics involved with a real turbine, and "propellor" is only a very rough approximation.\n\nso the shaft of the propeller is then connected via some gearbox to a generator.  a generator is basically a loop of wire that is free to turn in a magnetic field.  usually this field is generated by a permanent magnet.  \n\nif the loop spins, the mechanical energy of the spin is converted into electrical energy via a phenomenon called magnetic induction.  if you then connect the wires of the loop to some circuit, the induced current will power the circuit.\n\nan old roommate of mine was into collecting miniatures steam engines, for some reason, and apparently there are quite a few companies that make them.  here is a representative example of one or you can search on google for "steam turbine toy" or "steam turbine kit":\n\nhttp://www.lilliputmotorcompany.com/steam-turbine-wilesco-p-451.html\n\nas for a generator, lots of science hobby places sell little kit generators.  you don't want to use a big one as your tiny steam engine won't have enough torque to turn one over.  here's an example:\n\nhttp://sciencekit.com/category.asp_Q_c_E_440210\n\nhere are some links about how steam turbines work, and magnetic induction and generators:\nhttp://library.thinkquest.org/C006011/english/sites/dampfturbine.php3?v=2\nhttp://www.sciencejoywagon.com/physicszone/lesson/otherpub/wfendt/generatorengl.htm\nhttp://www.taftan.com/thermodynamics/STURBINE.HTM
380796
simply no. it is not possible to have a perpetual motion machine because there will always be some energy lost. fusion is fantastically efficient in terms of mass to energy and has none of the radioactive problems of its fission counterpart. however it still uses up fuel and you cannot then reuse this. also the technology at the moment uses more energy than it produces meaning that this is still quite a long way off. this is perhaps the most realistic way of powering the spacecraft that you appear to visualise however there is still the problem that it cannot go fast enough and unless a way is found of bending space itself you cannot go faster than the speed of light or indeed reach the speed of light so the answer is no at the moment and no for the foreseeable future.
197354
Not to my knowledge but it is an interesting idea. We know that the solarwind pushes on Earths magnetosphere with tremendous force. A spaceship with a magnetic bubble around it would also experience that force which should yield some thrust. The farther from the sun you get the weaker the thrust gets. It should be easy enough to compensate for this by simply expanding the magnetic bubble. \nSuch articficial magnetospheres will probably become standard for spacecraft destined for very longterm missions in the near future. They may not be able to provide all the thrust the spacecraft needs (you might want to inwards in the solarsytem too...) but it could provide valuable extra protection from highenergy particles for the astronauts inside.\n\nThe other way of magnetic propulsion is MagLev, or magnetic levitation. It is used for highspeed trains here on earth. Such a train on, say, the Moon with its absence of an atmosphere should be able to reach escape velocity (2.4 km/s for the moon) and get launched into space with only the electricity needed to run the MagLev track as a propellant.
190298
There is the factor of where the wind originated from and the rotation of the earth.  Think about it, how fast is the north pole spinning (pretty slow, it takes 24 hrs for the earth to revolve)?  At the equator, the ground spins at a very high speed, being as the ground is further from the axis of rotation.  \n\nAs an example, a high-altitude air-mass originates from near the equator and travels away from the equator. The ground is spinning slower as you move away from the equator, but the air-mass does not lose a lot of the speed it had when it was at the equator.  Thus it will be moving relative to the ground it is now above. Since the earth rotates in the eastern direction, the wind will travel from east to west (relative to the ground it is now above).  \n\nIf the wind came from a location away from the equator and moved towards the equator, it is moving slowly relative to the equator so it will appear to be travelling slower than the rotation of the ground below it.  As a result, it would move from east to west relative to the ground.\n\nThis is how phenomenon like that jet-stream work.  This effect is called the coriolis (if I spelled it right) effect.
1014901
Very impractical for at least two reasons:\n\n1) It would have to be an unbelievably powerful magnetic field to generate any significant lift. The Earth's magnetic field is very weak.\n\n2) As soon as it left the ground the vehicle would be trying to flip over to an attitude where the Earth's magnetic field attracted it. You can't have a south magnetic pole without a north one and vice versa. As soon as this flip happened, the vehicle would crash back to Earth hard.
181335
============================================================\nMagnetic Shield \n\nEarth's geodynamo creates a magnetic field that shields most of the habited parts of our planet from charged particles that come mostly from the sun. The field deflects the speeding particles toward Earth's Poles. \n\nWithout our planet's magnetic field, Earth would be subjected to more cosmic radiation. The increase could knock out power grids, scramble the communications systems on spacecraft, temporarily widen atmospheric ozone holes, and generate more aurora activity. \n\nA number of Earth's creatures, including some birds, turtles, and bees, rely on Earth's magnetic field to navigate. The field is in constant flux, scientists say. But even without it, life on Earth will continue, researchers say. \n\n"There are small fluctuations, which lead to nothing, and large ones, which we know from the geologic record are associated with reversals," said Peter Olson, a geophysicist at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland. \n============================================================\n\nMore at the following link:
599950
Are you looking for something like this, a homemade wind turbine to generate electricity?\n\nhttp://www.otherpower.com/17page1.html
714517
I doubt it would work very well; you'd need very substantial sails with strong support structures. Being large, they would also require expensive maintenance. I think the current setup has been carefully tuned for efficiency too; the long, thin blades on the turbines are designed for maximum lift (and therefore maximum torque) with minimum drag.\n\nSo, my analysis is that it's unlikely to be economical even if it does slightly increase the performance.
637566
It looked like the hover boards worked with some sort of magnet on the bottom that probably conteracted with the earth's magnetic force. Since, water isn't magnetic, the hoverboard wouldn't work on water. Thats what I thought at least.
572689
No easily measurable effect. There is a small Coriolis effect when flying north or south, but not when flying east or west. The air and Earth are all rotating as a unit, so except for wind, it is no different than driving on the ground. Wind speed and direction is controlled more by heating from the Sun than anything else, and it can blow in any direction. True, prevailing winds to tend to make for quicker travel in one direction, but that is not what you are talking about I think.
786312
Since you're dealing with a variable energy source (wind), you're best bet is to build a DC generator...\n\nIs this a science progect?\n\nA DC Generator is the same machine as a DC motor...  So if you're building something for your home, then just use a DC motor and a simple belt an pulley to reduce the rotational resistance (or load) on the blades, so a slower wind can be used...\n\nFor a Science project...  \nBuid three loops of wire and seperate them 60° on the rotor of the wind mill.  Place a magnet on either side. north to south\nSet up "brushes" (chunks of graphite like pencil lead) on either side so that as the rotor spins with the wind, the same side is going to the same terminal + or - no matter which side of the coil it is.\n\nHave fun with it...