OK so here's that last doodle, back from page 10:
..obviously it's all rigged up incorrectly there.. the interaction i want to try next will involve that radial GPE, operating just
one lever at a time.
The lever-vs-wheel MoI's will again be matched; so this time the wheel MoI will include the mass of that GPE.
The GPE itself, as mentioned already, appears optimised for generating the maximum inertial torque for its given weight; this is why it's composed of two masses connected by vertical rods, rather than just a single unitary lump of mass sliding up and down - which would have the same weight, but a narrower distribution about the axis.
As that GPE moves downwards / inwards towards the center, it is producing
positive inertial torque; attempting to
speed up the wheel, per the 'ice-skater effect'; angular momentum is conserved, and is
composed of angular inertia (MoI) times angular velocity (RPM), hence reducing one component causes an immediate compensatory rise in the other, and vice versa.
As the above brief demonstrations confirm, it is
impossible to apply torque to these diametric weight levers
without applying equal opposite counter-torque back to the wheel axis itself; N3
is inviolable (due to mass constancy and the speed of light), so it makes no difference if the levers are operated by applying torque directly at their pivots, or else by yanking 'em up and down by means of the radial GPE; either way, we're going to be inducing counter-torques, and thus, counter-momenta, which will
always be equal and opposite to any momentum imparted to the lever/s. In short, 'N1' =
'it's impossible to change the net momentum of a closed system of interacting masses via the internal expenditure of work'...
But we're going to be trying to make an
open thermodynamic system; open to
gravity, and
time..
I've already shown various systems that apply carefully-controlled inertial torques to fully cancel counter-torques, using 'reactive feedback' techniques.
The added complication here is going to be the same mass causing these inertial torques, is also a gravitating 'weight', providing output GPE to operate the lever and so apply torque and, thus, its corresponding counter-torque. Basically, the same mass movement is causing at least two different kinds of torques at the same time.. or
three if including over-balancing / under-balancing torques..
Now, if there's a 'magic balance' between those torques that gains momentum from gravity, it could be tricky to find it with a trial-and-error approach.. too many permutations to sift through!
..so what i'm thinking is, why not just continue applying torques directly to the lever axes as before, so, doing
without any initial mechanical coupling between the GPE and lever; just torque the lever directly, and then, at the same time, move the GPE downwards in a controlled manner. This should make it easier to work through the possible 'permutation space'..
The first thing to try would seem the most simple - slide the GPE radially from its maximum-MoI (extended) position, down into the center, where its MoI is minimal. Tune the amount of mass / weight to provide sufficient inertial torque to fully cancel all 'motor torque' being applied to the lever axis.
Under these conditions it should then be straightforward to meter the transient rise in the lever's momentum (its MoI times its velocity), along with the wheel / net system's
drop in momentum, caused by its inability to speed up in response to its decreasing MoI (which is being prevented by the counter-torques from the lever axis).
The first priority being to check that the momenta are equal and opposite.
Is there any real chance they might
not be? It'd be quite the discovery were it so; we'd thus have a
transient net momentum change, at least..
Perhaps this is another area where the high MoI of the diametric levers will have an effect - since its momentum is its angular velocity times its MoI about its pivot; if we can cause the lever to gain more momentum than the wheel loses to its reduced MoI but with the corresponding acceleration cancelled, bingo! The subsequent braking / collision of the lever will share back that momentum gain to the wheel axis. Then all we need to do is keep repeating that momentum gain, whilst measuring the energy in vs out..
Obviously however, a negative inertial torque has to be caused at some point in the cycle, as the GPE needs to be reset; either it continues down past its 'minimum MoI' location at mid-center, dropping out at the bottom side, back into a 'max-MoI' position, or else it reverses back out, following the same path by which it moved in..
..so, how is the sequence of positive and negative inertial torques supposed to be phased relative to the torques being applied directly to the lever?
For instance, does the negative inertial torque have to be accomplished whilst the lever is still falling, or else, after it's braked / hit its rimstop?
If the latter case, then this would make sense, since we'd already have our momentum gain, and merely changing radius from thereon will only transiently lower the wheel speed, with no effect on the conserved angular momentum..
Bit long-winded i know, but i'm just working this out as i go along, nothing much 'predicted' at this stage, it's still all rather speculative / investigatory..
Far as i can see, it all comes down to whether or not the transient
drop in net system momentum about the wheel axis - caused by the paired 'GPE' masses moving into the center whilst counter-torque from the lever axis prevents its acceleration - is equal to the
rise in momentum of the diametric lever, caused by the counter-torque at its axis being cancelled by the above inertial torque..
This seems to be about the most self-consistent permutation to begin with..