Posted by MrTim (152.163.188.5) on March 22, 2003 at 21:31:25:
In Reply to: Re: All who don't want to pay for energy posted by grim on March 22, 2003 at 07:27:56:
: : Okay Grim. A 100 foot wheel is roughly 9 times the size of a 12 foot wheel. So approx, 500 watts. Not even a horsepower.
: I believe you forgot to take the weight/leverage into account. 20 tons is equal to 40,000 pounds. There's 50 feet to the axle center. 40,000 times 50 feet equals 2,000,000 ft/lbs of torque.
: One horsepower equals 550 ft/lbs per minute (if I remember correctly). So call it roughly 500 ft/lbs per min. 2,000,000 divided by 500 equals approx. 40,000 horsepower.
Grim,
Don't forget that you could also expand the width of the wheel (in effect having a series of wheels side-by-side on the same axle)
You'd need a stronger axle, but it would increase your power even more. :) (And just try to stop that sucker once you got it going!)
MrTim