Can't argue with that. :-)jim_mich wrote:All gravity fields change with height, ...Grimer wrote:A gradient gravitational field is one in which the acceleration towards a point on the earth changes with height.
The point I was trying to make is that for objects the size of Bessler's Wheel the change with height is so negligible that for all practical purposes it doesn't change with height. That means we can't use that negligible change to get our wheel to rotate.
In contrast, for your horizontal wheel the change is large. EG goes to zero at the centre. So you have the possibility of using that gradient to get your wheel to rotate.
Interestingly enough, from the frame of reference of an observer at a particular point on the equator the apparent NG above his head goes to zero at the "stationary" satellite orbit.