Gyroscopic Intertial Thrust (GIT)

[AlanR]

(thats Inertial not Intertial)

Is it real? (it allegedly produces unidirectional thrust)

http://jnaudin.free.fr/html/GITV2.htm

jonathan you mentioned you built a device re David Cowlishaw - was it this?

The video looks impressive, the device moves across a table in both directions.

sorry if this has been covered much earlier.

[Jonathan]

I have done extensive theoretical and experimental work in the possible use of Cowlishaw's device as either interial propulsion or gravity powered wheel. You can find it all at the old disscussion board, I don't want to waste space reposting my drawings and thoughts.
I can sum up quickly though, that in the end I think I proved experimentally that the device doesn't work as a gravity wheel, which seems like it also excludes all the interial etc. claims. However, all the math I did said it could work, and i still don't know where the problems were there. I could be that the experiment had a fatal flaw that I still havn't seen, but fo rthe most part I have abandoned research into this area, I am thoughly convinced it doesn't work.

[AlanR]

I hear you, but what of the video - trickery?

[Jonathan]

No, I have seen several videos, and I don't think they are trying to hoax anything. It is just very hard to makesure there are no out side influences moving it. I saw one in a bathtub that seemed to be propelled by the waves it was making from shaking so much. I have seen J. Naudin's video, and I just don't know about it. IIRC, there is a wire connecting it to a power supply (no batteries onboard), so maybe the wire is just stiff enought that combined with the shaking it moves that device around to a position it prefers.

[Jonathan]

I've been doing some thinking and I have decided to reveiw the GIT with fresh eyes (it's been awhile) and see if I made any mistakes in my dismissal of it.

[Jonathan]

Update: Still thinking, but I am generally coming to the conclusion that it is like a continuous and unusal lever, that one weight will lift the other and they will be the same distance from the center, but it seems like in all versions the rising weight rises slower than the falling one falls, so that one ends up at the bottom before the other reaches the top, and it stops.

[MrTim]

Hey Jonathan,
Here's the message board the GIT people used:

http://www.inter-corporate.com/forums/i ... ering.html

It's a fun educational read (might take a few weeks to get through it though.) Set it so you can see all the threads and start way at the bottom.
(Don't bother about trying to post to it. It's been pretty much 'abandoned' by the people who used to frequent it.)

[AlanR]

Having looked into the posts at that forum mentioned by Mr Tim, I believe that GIT doesn't work as claimed. It may appear to work on a flat surface, but i tend to agree with several other posts that friction is preventing the "equal & opposite" reaction from moving the GIT back to starting point (as the reactive force is equal, but longer in duration and smaller in amplitude) as it cannot overcome friction. The forward direction shows movement, as force is "spikier" of shorter duration and overcomes friction. So the thing moves forward on a table. It wont work where theres no friction.

Thats very simplistic, sure, and I still am looking at it, but so far thats my feeling on it. :-(

Alan. (R)

[MrTim]

If I remember right, they came up with a test rig that suspended the GITs from the ceiling (no contact with any surfaces) but still had some minor problems. I am not going back to re-read it all though.... ;-)

[Jonathan]

I think you are right. On one side the orbital moves slowly, so centripetal force is weak, but applied over a long time. On the other side the orbital moves fast, so centripetal force is great, but it is on that side for a short time. If I had some experimental numbers to use I bet we'd find that fT=Ft, so the impulses have different shapes but encompass the same area.
It works because the strong force easily overcomes static friction, while the weak force can't, no matter how long either acts.